The meeting was held on 4 June 2018 in Tashkent, in the run-up to the second Central Asian International Environmental Forum. Key objectives of the meeting were to discuss CAREC activities for the first half of the year and exchange of views on its strategic development.
CAREC Board of Governors is the management body of the organization. The board includes representatives of the public sector and non-governmental organizations of Central Asian countries, as well as representatives of international organizations. Each member has an equal right to vote. Since 2001, the year of CAREC establishment, 40 meetings of the Board of Governors took place.
At the beginning of the meeting, CAREC Executive Director Dr Iskandar Abdullaev delivered a semi-annual report on the work done by the organization. Dr Abdullaev also presented the assessment of centre’s management system carried out by an international expert. During the discussion, the members of the Board of Governors expressed their thoughts on further work of CAREC.
It was noted that the centre has accumulated a solid knowledge and is able to provide guidance to sectoral agencies in the formation of policies on various aspects of environmental protection and sustainable development. Dr Abdullaev confirmed that the centre is ready to provide recommendations and exchange with ideas in this regard.
The parties also discussed that the region does not fully reveal the potential of international conventions as a tool for improving the environment. For example, the countries of Central Asia have not joined the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes. It was suggested to identify and analyze barriers to this.
Similarly, the Director of the Institute of Ecology and Sustainable Development Ms Kuralay Karibayeva stressed the need for synergy in the implementation of ratified conventions. In addition, Ms Karibaeva noted that although water resources management is one of the central issues in the region, we shouldn’t forget also about matters on biodiversity, effective land management, and combating desertification.
During the meeting, Mr Dovlet Djumakuliev, Director of the CAREC office in Turkmenistan, also gave a speech by presenting the activities of the branch in Turkmenistan and a vision of its further development. It is worth noting that in 2017 the first Central Asian International Environmental Forum was held in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan. The forum was attended by 200 participants from 13 countries. In addition, CAREC branch in Turkmenistan actively involves national partners in international events. The delegation of Turkmenistan and the Executive Committee of IFAS, as part of the delegation of Central Asian countries, successfully held a side event of Central Asia at the 8th World Water Forum in Brazil. Beyond that, the office actively contributed to the participation of the delegation of Turkmenistan at the Second Central Asian International Environmental Forum held in Tashkent on 5-8 June 2018.
At the end of the meeting, the sides summed up the discussions. The provisional date of the 41st meeting of the Board of Governors was agreed upon and scheduled for December 2018 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.