Outcomes of the CAREC Day at the EXPO-2017
July 11, the World Exhibition "EXPO-2017" in Astana hosted CAREC Day, which was dedicated to the issues of energy efficiency and green economy. During the event, experts from Central Asia, CAREC and the World Bank discussed strengthening of regional cooperation, sharing their own experience. The event was held in cooperation with the World Bank and Samsung Central Eurasia in the Samsung Pavilion.
CAREC experts demonstrated opportunities for the development of a "green" economy in Central Asia, as well as the interrelationship between water, food, energy and ecosystems. As successful practices of promoting "green" principles and involving young people, the Central Asian Leadership Program (CALP) and the mobile application-game Urban Corners are mentioned.
CALP is a large-scale training campaign that brings together young specialists in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development from the five countries of Central Asia and Afghanistan to discuss pressing problems in the region and transfer of experience with the participation of world-renowned experts and speakers in specific areas. This year, the eighth Leadership Program is devoted to the issues of "green development".
The Urban Corners game is an application for young people of Astana, which was developed by the Goethe Institute and CAREC in the framework of a joint project. Players use the city map to visit certain places and complete the quest in the course of the story. This means that users are sent to various stations in Astana, which are selected according to two criteria: significant well-known places that are of great importance in the culture and lifestyle of the population of the capital and places of special significance in the context of the theme "New and old forms of energy." Especially for the world exhibition, an addition was added to the game with new stations at the EXPO-2017, where players get presents. Learn more about the application here.
Having multiple similarities, the countries of Central Asia significantly vary with respect to key economy sectors architecture and primary energy resources consumption, which eventually leads to differences in their present structure of GHGs emissions. Within the session «Low-carbon development in Central Asia and opportunities for regional cooperation», representatives of Central Asian countries presented national strategies, plans and approaches to low carbon development. The panelists discussed necessary conditions for sustainable and coherent low-carbon growth in the region. After presenting national perspectives and opportunities for regional cooperation, which offers additional contribution to reduction of GHGs in the Central Asian countries.
The global financial crisis has vividly demonstrated the instability of the modern financial and economic system and set the world community with a particularly urgent task of finding alternative models for achieving economic growth taking into account environmental safety factors. Climate change, desertification and land degradation, aggravating problems of natural resource management and environmental protection, food security, public health threats, economic and social development are priority challenges to be tackled with. It is necessary to increase the level of regional, national and international cooperation. The growing challenges that create significant difficulties for policy makers in making practical decisions which make them turn into long-term challenges. In this context, as a catalyst for cooperation at all levels in Central Asia, CAREC is promoting, among others, the principles of low-carbon development and the "green" economy as part of its activities.
In this regard, this event was aimed at promoting the principles of a green economy and discussing ways to strengthen regional cooperation in this area.