Tashkent will host climate change conference for Central Asian countries
The Central Asian Climate Change Conference (CACCC 2019) will be held on April 3-4in Tashkent. More than 200 experts from leading national, regional and international organizations and departments will take part in it to discuss measures to combat the effects of climate change in Central Asia.
Also within the framework of the conference organized with the support of the World Bank and the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS), a special seminar for the media will be held, at which experts will popularly explain the importance of covering climate change and attracting the attention of the audience to this issue.
Climate change is one of the most pressing topics of our time. It is discussed by meteorologists, ecologists, sociologists and economists from around the world. But how can one understand what the problem is and how to contribute to its solution?
Today, experts associate climate change (CC) primarily with the increase in temperature. The climate is warming, glaciers are melting, fresh water is becoming less, and salty - more. Coastal areas are flooded, and inside the continents it becomes drier and hotter.
To slow down this process, many countries have joined the UN Framework Convention (1995) and the Paris Agreement (2017) on climate change. Climate issues are also highlighted in Goals 6, 13, 14 and 15 of the Sustainable Development Agenda until 2030.
Turkmenistan has ratified these documents and laid them at the heart of the National Climate Change Strategy. Its goal is to ensure the sustainable development of the country, to mitigate the environmental impact, to prepare the economy for the possible negative consequences of EC, and to increase the food, water and environmental safety of the state.
The main areas of work of state bodies in the field of climate change are the oil and gas complex, industry, electric power industry, transport and housing and communal services. Thus, objects of the oil, gas and chemical industries are being reconstructed everywhere, new constructions marked with international certificates are being built.
A state program is being implemented for the gradual withdrawal from circulation of hydrochlorofluorocarbons used in refrigeration units and adversely affecting the ozone layer of the Earth.
The construction of the man-made lake “Altyn Asyr” continues to collect drainage water from irrigated lands and divert them to the Garashor depression. This project will improve the reclamation condition of the cultivated areas, solve many problems associated with soil salinization, waterlogging and drought. The National Strategy on Climate Change, the National Forest Program and the General Program for providing the population with clean drinking water are being gradually implemented.
But the efforts of the state can be multiplied many times thanks to the efforts of citizens. That is why today in Turkmenistan a culture of respect for resources and the environment is being actively educated. Thus, in 2018, minimum tariffs for payment of gas, electricity and drinking water previously provided free of charge were developed and introduced in order to increase personal responsibility for their negligent spending.
“Global”, “universal”, “planetary” - it is difficult for ordinary people to even imagine the scale of the climate change problem that time and history throws to us. To solve it, it is necessary to unite and at least redouble efforts to preserve our Earth in the form in which we know and love it.
