On 4 December, the regional workshop on strengthening water quality for the Amu Darya River Basin involving Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and co-financed by the EU and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), took place in Urgench, Uzbekistan. The Programme is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
The workshop was attended by authorised representatives appointed from each Central Asian country (representatives of the Ministries of Water Resources management of Central Asia, relevant line ministries), as well as representatives of the international partners of the Programme.
“Climate change exacerbates water quality issues. Regional cooperation is crucial and brings shared benefits, for example through unified monitoring standards and joint pollution control initiatives. Switzerland is glad to jointly with Germany and the EU support a platform for exchange and learning on this important issue“, underlined Ms.Lisa Marina Gampp, Regional Water and Climate Change Advisor, Program Manager Regional Water Infrastructure and Climate Change, Embassy of Switzerland in Uzbekistan
‘The Amu Darya River is important to many millions of people living in its basin. Water resources are mainly used for agriculture, power generation, industrial, domestic and drinking purposes. Therefore, water quality is a very important issue. I am convinced that only regional cooperation is the key to achieving results’, noted Dr. Caroline Milow, Manager of Regional Programme GIZ “Climate-sensitive Water Resources Management in Central Asia”.
The participants underlined that the countries of the Amu Darya basin are already making efforts to improve the water quality management system, but due to certain shortcomings in the area of national policies, technical support and regional cooperation, this issue requires further efforts
As a results of workshop, the particpants exchanged of best practices and experience of water quality monitoring as well as agreed on sharing of information available on water quality in the Amu Darya Basin.
For reference
As part of the Green Central Asia initiative of the German Federal Government, in accordance with the Regional Action Plan agreed by the countries of Central Asia in November 2021, GIZ is implementing the regional project “Climate-Sensitive Water Resources Management in Central Asia” funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) with co-financing from EU ( EU4sustainableCentralAsia: Joint Action and Coordination on Water, Energy and Climate Change) and the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC).
The main goal of the regional project is to strengthen the capacity of national and regional organizations responsible for water resources management to implement coordinated water resources management considering climate impacts at the regional and national levels.
One of the objectives of the project is to strengthen the capacity of specialists from regional and national organizations responsible for water quality in the Amu Darya River Basin in the field of climate-sensitive integrated water resources management. To achieve this goal, the project will conduct training seminars to bolster the capacities of the environmental authorities of the Amu Darya River Basin in the sphere of water quality and water monitoring.
