On 19-20 October 2021, in Dushanbe, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and Central Asia Regional Environment Centre (CAREC) organized thematic session # 5 at the Central Asian Climate Change Conference to support Central Asian countries in sharing perspectives, experiences and lessons learned on climate action implemented in the region and aimed at climate change adaptation and water-related disaster risk reduction. Specific focus was on approaches, methods and tools used to facilitate policy discussion and decision making in the Central Asian countries and the region as such.
The thematic session was moderated by Ms. Sabine Olthof, GIZ Country Director Dushanbe, Tajikistan and co-moderated by Mr. Zafar Makhmudov, CAREC Executive Director.
The keynote address was delivered by Mr. Harald Köthe, Director, International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change (ICWRGC) UNESCO Category 2 Centre: The importance of data availability and sharing on transboundary scale for mitigation of droughts and floods in Western and Central Asia.
Dr. Caroline Milow, Manager of the programme ‘Green Central Asia’ briefly informed about the vision of GIZ for regional cooperation on climate change adaptation and water-related disaster risk reduction.
Mr. Rieks Bosch, international consultant (The Netherlands) spoke about the specifics in preparing climate risk assessments. Mr. Ilhom Jurayev, Uzbek representative in EC IFAS and Mr. Serik Bekmaganbetov, Kazakh representative EC IFAS informed about best practice examples from their respective countries.
Participants of Session #5 prepared several recommendations for the final conference document, among them the necessity for transboundary cooperation, exchange between science and decision-making, a cross-sectoral approach and a sound legal basis including active participation of the Central Asian countries in international environment instrument.
Useful information:
The average global temperature for the past five years was among the highest on record, and the scale of recent changes across the global climate system is unprecedented over many centuries to many thousands of years). Climate change especially impacts the hydrological cycle. Most Central Asian River basins are experiencing increased flow variability and “transformation”, as hydrological changes accrue and substantially alter them. Water-related disasters continue to occur more frequently.
A large part of disaster risk is directly or indirectly linked to water (e.g. ¬ flood, drought, typhoons/ cyclones, ¬as hoods, landslides, water quality emergencies). Floods, droughts and storms affected 4.2 billion people (95 per cent of all people affected by disasters) and caused US$1.3 trillion of economic losses since 1992. It is a fact that the occurrence and magnitude of natural hazards like floods and droughts have increased due to higher weather variability as a result of climate change; changing land and water practices and land use exacerbate this development.
All five Central Asian States (together with Afghanistan and a small part of Iran) are part of the Aral Sea Basin and include transboundary river basins. The risks and challenges connected to these waters are shared between the neighboring countries, and transboundary cooperation is essential as transboundary basins are often more vulnerable to disasters. The Central Asian countries are therefore starting to address these changes in the transboundary and national basins by developing climate change impact as well as vulnerability assessments and also adaptation strategies.
