The Launch of the project
The Ramsar Regional Initiative in Central Asia (RRI-CA) has also been established. Today, the members of the RRI-CA network have a broad understanding of Ramsar site issues and necessary actions at national and local levels. To support the development of the existing platform of the Ramsar Regional Initiative Network in Central Asia for promoting sustainable local partnerships for the conservation of Ramsar Sites/Potentially Ramsar Sites through partnership and cooperation, a project "Innovative Approach for Sustainable and Wise Use of Ramsar Sites/Potentially Ramsar Sites in Central Asia through Partnership and Cooperation" has been launched. The project is funded by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) in the framework of ““Green Central Asia: Transboundary dialogue on climate, environment, and security in Central Asia” (www.greencentralasia.org).
To stop the increasing human encroachment and loss of wetlands now and in the future, the Convention on Wetlands was adopted in Ramsar, Iran, on 2 February 1971. The Ramsar Regional Initiative in Central Asia (RRI-CA) was also established. Today, members of RRI-CA network have a broad understanding of Ramsar site issues and necessary actions at national and local levels. To support the development of the existing platform of the Ramsar Regional Initiative Network in Central Asia for promoting sustainable local partnerships for the conservation of Ramsar Sites/Potentially Ramsar Sites through partnership and cooperation, a project "Innovative approach for sustainable and wise use of Ramsar /potentially Ramsar sites in Central Asia through partnership and collaboration" has been launched. The project is funded by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), “Green Central Asia: Transboundary dialogue on climate, environment, and security in Central Asia”.
The first phase will be implemented in 2022 through the network of the Ramsar Regional Initiative for Central Asia to develop new skills and innovative approaches by its members to address Ramsar/Potentially Ramsar Sites. The next steps are planned for 2023 and 2024, with the aim of preparing a competition among a wide range of residents and stakeholders to gather their knowledge of the problems and visions for possible solutions.
On 27 August 2022, the First Coordination Meeting of each country in the RRI-CA network took place as part of the project. At the meeting, the current affairs, the work plan until the end of 2022, as well as potentially existing problems to be put on the agenda for the follow-up work were discussed.
Maksim Mitropolsky, the Chairman of the RRI-CA Steering Committee, noted that some of the plans already exist, it is important to focus on cross-border work so that all five countries are involved. It is also important to highlight specific national ideas, which can now be revised and adapted for local involvement.
Sustainability and wise use of wetland resources is the main priority for this and subsequent projects related to wetland conservation, which is what this project team will work on.
More about the project: www.greencentralasia.org