The Ramsar Secretariat, together with the Committee for Environmental Protection under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, organized a regional workshop in Dushanbe from 10 to 13 November 2015 for the Ramsar Contracting Parties and partners from Central Asia.
The aim of the workshop was to review and finalize a proposal to establish a Ramsar Regional Initiative for Central Asia that would be submitted to the 51st meeting of the Ramsar Standing Committee (SC51) for endorsement.
The workshop was generously funded by the Government of Japan and was attended by government representatives from all five countries of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), and regional and international partner organizations such as the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
The countries and partners wholeheartedly agreed on the need to develop a regional initiative for the region as a means where they can join forces to implement the Ramsar Convention and its Strategic Plan for 2016-2014. The priority areas identified for their collaboration included conducting a regional inventory of wetlands, improving the management effectiveness of Ramsar Sites and other key wetlands, and enhancing awareness about wetland values at all levels.
During the workshop, the participants also developed a work plan and finance outlook for the Initiative in 2016 in which their determination to build capacity, promote knowledge exchange, raise funds to be able to conserve the wetlands of Central Asia - one of the most fragile ecosystems in the region – was reflected clearly.
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan have submitted their formal letters of support to this Initiative while Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are in the process of internal consultation.
The proposal has now been submitted to the SC51 Meeting that will take place from 23 to 27 November in Gland, Switzerland.
Please find the proposal in Russian on the following link:
http://www.ramsar.org/sites/default/files/documents/library/ri_proposal_rri_ca_nov2015_russian.pdf
Please find the unofficial English translation of the proposal on the following link: http://www.ramsar.org/sites/default/files/documents/library/ri_proposals...
