On 14 February 2023, the Executive Director of the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC), Zafar Makhmudov, had an official meeting with the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Zulfiya Suleimenova, in Astana.
They discussed the regional Climate Hub establishment, design and implementation of the national projects, including opportunities to receive a tie-in grant for environmental education.
According to the CAREC Executive Director Zafar Makhmudov, the meeting format and a range of questions discussed made it possible to comment on its results from the point of view of such an important and current issue as the formation of environmental consciousness in the countries of Central Asia.
Zafar MAKHMUDOV:
When speaking about the environmental consciousness in Central Asia, I would like to emphasize the only collaboration of non-governmental organizations with government agencies, based on building the environmental culture, would yield good results in responding to climate challenges that are confirmed by world practice and we strive to work in this direction. Thus, CAREC submitted to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan a project proposal entitled "Formation of environmental consciousness through the consolidation of the civil sector and the integration of the additional education system." The idea of the project is to support the current efforts of the Kazakhstan Government to modernize public consciousness and achieve sustainable (low-carbon) development.
Next, no less important is the creation of the Climate Hub in Central Asia that already lays the economic foundation for the next generations because they will continue doing what we are doing, namely, to implement low-carbon development of the regions, unite the Central Asian region and efficiently tackle issues of transboundary water resources.
To address these issues, we are working to attract green investment to our region and are developing a green development mechanism in Central Asia. A conscious attitude towards the environment and the so-called ecological thinking will make it possible to achieve significant success in all these areas.