Delegates from Central Asia presented the outcomes of the regional wetlands project at the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention
The 13th Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention was held in Dubai from 21 to 29 October 2018. The theme of the forum was “Wetlands for Sustainable Urban Future". The COP13 gathered 1,300 people from 157 countries.
The leitmotif of the conference was aimed to highlight the great value of wetlands in cities. In populated areas, wetlands protect human life, offering a natural infrastructure to help buffer against the threat of flooding, which has become increasingly common with extreme weather events. These buffers come in the form of salt marshes, mudflats, mangroves, or other wetland habitats - all of which house excess water in times of heavy rainfall and flooding. During the hot season, wetlands are invaluable in reducing city temperatures. They are natural filters that remove sediment and pollutants as water flows through them, ensuring safe water for drinking, cooking, and bathing. And engineered properly, wetlands can address drainage issues, directing water flow in a way that prevents or reduces pollution downstream, where people reside. Importantly, wetlands help create jobs, so local economies are sustained.
According to the Global Wetland Outlook, presented at COP13, the world is experiencing a rapid loss in wetland sites. They disappear three times faster than the forest. Since 1970, 35% of wetland sites has been lost. In this regard, there is an urgent need to take active measures to mitigate this negative trend.
The steps for sustainable use of wetlands were discussed at the plenary sessions of the conference. In particular, the forum adopted 26 resolutions on such topics as the assessment of ecosystem services provided by wetlands, restoration of degraded peatbogs for mitigation and adaptation to climate change, sustainable management of coastal ecosystems, agriculture on wetlands, the importance of wetlands for local communities, peace and security, etc.
On the sidelines of the conference, under the Ramsar Regional Initiative of Central Asia (RRI-CA), for the first time, Central Asian countries held a separate side event on the preservation of regional wetlands.
The meeting was attended by Almaz Musaev, the director of the department of biodiversity conservation and SPNA of Kyrgyz Republic, Khisravshokh Shermatov, the representative of the National biodiversity and biosafety center of the Republic of Tajikistan and CEPA Government Focal Point, Uktam Utaev, the deputy chairman of the State committee on ecology and environmental protection of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Eldar Rustamov, the chair of the RRI-CA Coordination Committee and member of working group on implementation of Ramsar Convention in Turkmenistan.
The event reviewed the activities of the RRI-CA and presented the outcomes of the first RRI-CA project on the work with local communities at selected wetlands in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. A discussion was also held on the theme “Wetland conservation in Central Asia: challenges, threats and opportunities”.
Among the main threats to the wetlands of the region, the speakers identified climate change, irrational use of water resources, pollution from agricultural production and reduction of biodiversity due to anthropogenic pressure. The participants of the discussion also shared their experience in solving these problems and considered the prospects of cooperation and implementation of regional projects.
