OSCE Centre helps organize regional workshop on environmental issues in Central Asia
ISSYK-KUL, Kyrgyzstan, 5 October 2004 - Representatives of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are gathering in Issyk-Kul for a workshop from 5 to 7 October to discuss ways of dealing with environmental issues in the region.
They will be joined by members of non-governmental organizations and international organizations to review national environmental impact assessment systems, as well as develop a pilot project on national and regional implementation mechanisms, including action plans for the Convention of Central Asian States.
"The environment is a necessary precondition of human life," said Kanat Januzakov, Deputy Ecology Minister of Kyrgyzstan. "This meeting, initiated by Kyrgyzstan, reviews obligations within the global environmental context".
Participants agreed that since the environment did not have borders, what went on in one country should not be neglected by others.
Environmental impact assessment procedures on the national levels are distinctly stipulated in the legislation of the Central Asian countries. However, environmental impact assessment procedures in a transboundary context, combining international requirements and national legislative provisions, have not been fully developed.
"Today's conference is an important mechanism for the development of better co-operation between countries in the region with respect to environmental security," said Ambassador Markus Muller, Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek.
Wiek Schrage, Secretary of the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, said "The workshop comes at precisely the right moment. The guidelines, which will be developed here, could help Central Asian countries to apply provisions of the Convention for the benefit of the region".
The workshop has been organized by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek together with the Ministry of Environment and Emergency Situations of Kyrgyzstan, the Swiss Government, Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).