INTERNATIONAL ECOLOGICAL CONFERENCE
“ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF TURKESTAN REGION”
On November 6 – 9, 2002, Turkestan hosted International Ecological Conference dedicated to environmental problems of the Turkestan region. The Conference was organised by the International Kazakh Turkish University named after Yasavi. About 100 ecologists, representatives of authorities, educational, health care, and research institutions and enterprises as well as high school teachers from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan, Karakalpakia, Turkey, and Russia participated in the Conference.
Topics included problems related to the Aral crisis impact on Turkestan region; climate changes; Syr-Daria River draining, poisoning and chemical pollution; poor quality of agricultural products; and environmental impacts on people’s health. Specific attention was paid to the issues related to Irtysh, Amu Daria, and Syr Daria rivers which are closely linked with the problems of the Aral Sea and require intergovernmental water resource management. The participants of the Conference adopted a resolution containing inter alia the following recommendations:
collect and systematise materials on ecological changes and problems arising in the Central Asia;
recognise the necessity to resolve problems of the Central Asia water resources and nature conservation mutually;
carry out ecological monitoring of mountains and develop a strategy for their sustainable development in accordance with the decisions of the Bishkek Summit Meeting (2002);
create a database of ecological changes in Turkestan region.
The participants of the Conference appraised the establishment of the Ecological Scientific Research Institute at Yasvi’s International Kazakh Turkish University and agreed that the Institute should assess the ecological situation in the Turkestan region, identify its key problems and ways to resolve these issues, and publish the Central-Asian Ecological Magazine.
The participants of the Conference addressed presidents of Central Asian countries with the proposal to develop mutually-agreed Central-Asian Strategy and Action Plan to resolve top-priority trans-boundary problems and involve scientists, experts and communities into this process.
Extracts from “Central Asia:
Desert Problems” Bulltin,
2002, #44
