ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Dec. 19
By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:
Ashgabat city hosted multilateral consultations on the development of a UN Special Program for the Aral Sea Basin (UN SPAS), Trend reports Dec. 19 with reference to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry.
The event was held in accordance with the resolution of the UN General Assembly 73/297 dated May 28, 2019, as well as in accordance with the decisions of the Council of Heads of the Founding States of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) dated Aug. 24, 2018.
The delegations of the countries of the Central Asian region discussed the problems of inland water bodies and their solution at the national, regional and global levels, the report said.
The participants agreed that the negative humanitarian, environmental and socio-economic consequences of the disasters of inland water basins, such as the Aral Sea, go far beyond the borders of the regions and cause global concern, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said.
The parties welcomed the establishment of the Multi-Partner Human Security Trust Fund for the Aral Sea region.
During the consultations, the relevant bodies of the UN system were urged to conduct a feasibility study for new mechanisms to strengthen regional coordination and cooperation to study, mitigate and minimize the effects of natural disasters within inland water basins, in particular the Aral Sea.
Established in the 1990s with the founding of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the IFAS is aimed at financing joint projects and programs to save the Aral Sea and improve the environmental situation in the Aral Sea region. In December 2008, IFAS was granted an observer status in the UN General Assembly.
Turkmenistan is affected by the problem of Aral Sea's ecology. It is most noticeable in the country’s northern Dashoguz Region, where problems have arisen with the provision of drinking water, the fight against salinization of cultivation lands, land degradation and desertification.
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