The regular meeting of the Ramsar Regional Initiative of Central Asia (RRI-CA) Coordination Committee took place at the CAREC head office on June 10, 2019 in Almaty (Kazakhstan).
The meeting aimed to discuss the results of the Initiative in 2018 and approve plans for 2019-2020. Chairman of the RRI-CA Coordination Committee Prof. Rustamov shared information about the activities currently undertaken to promote the Initiative at the international level. He also presented the main results of the 13-COP of the Ramsar Convention held from 21-29 October 2018 in Dubai, where was organized a special side event on wetlands in Central Asia. Managers of the project “Updating Information on the Status of Wetlands (Wetlands) in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan by Collecting and Distributing Best Existing Practices for the Preservation and Rational Use of Wetlands by Local Communities”, implemented in 2017-2018 with the support of the Government of Japan, presented an overview of the project’s final implementation stage and its practical component with regard to conducting trainings on sharing experience on conservation and use of the Ramsar wetlands. The members of the Coordination Committee supported the proposed work plan for the RRI-CA for 2019-2020, which includes the following areas:
- continuation of stocktaking and monitoring of the Ramsar wetlands;
- conducting of a quick assessment of environmental characteristics and ecosystem services, mapping wetlands in Central Asia and creation of a database on the state of environmental characteristics;
- dissemination of knowledge on the significance of wetlands;
- putting wetland conservation issues on the agenda of international conferences;
- further continuation of work on preservation of birds migrating along the Central Asian flyway.
The approved work plan will be presented at the 57th meeting of the Ramsar Standing Committee at the end of June 2019.
In the course of the meeting, representatives of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan informed about the progress on collecting information for nomination of new wetlands to the Ramsar list. In turn, participants from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan expressed their interest in participating in the events of the Ramsar Regional Initiative in 2019 and their intention to join the Initiative.
At the end of the meeting, there was a presentation devoted to the memory of the Secretary of the Asia-Oceania Group of the Ramsar Convention - Dr. Lew Young - who passed away in March 2019 at the age of 60. Dr. Lew Young was one of the main driving forces of the creation of the Ramsar Regional Initiative and provided the most active support to its development.