INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC-PRACTICAL CONFERENCE “WATER RESOURCES IN CENTRAL ASIA AND THEIR USE”
22-24 September 2016, Almaty, Kazakhstan
The focus areas of the Conference were:
- Water resources of Central Asia in context of climate change;
- Water resources management: principles, methods and results;
- Geoinformation systems (GIS) and mathematical modeling;
- Transboundary water cooperation;
- Hydrological extremes.
The aim of the scientific-practical Conference was to demonstrate and discuss the existing experiences in water resources management as a basis for sustainable development at the regional and national levels.
The parallel organization of the Forum and Conference “Water resources in Central Asia and their use” arouse great scientific and practical interest. This allowed attracting not only scientists and practitioners, but also the heads of water management organizations from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in the persons of Deputy Ministers of Agriculture and Water Resources (excluding of Tajikistan). The Conference was organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of Kazakhstan and the Institute of Geography of Kazakhstan with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and participation of many foreign speakers.
At the opening ceremony of the Conference, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Kazakhstan Mr. E.N.Nysanbayev, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources of Turkmenistan Mr. G.Baydjanov, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources of Uzbekistan Mr. Sh.Khamrayev, the representative of the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources of Tajikistan Mr. T.Gulov, the President of the National Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan Mr. M.Zh.Zhurinov and others delivered their speeches.
In his speech Mr. Sh.R.Khamrayev highlighted the contribution of Uzbekistan to water conservation, particularly noting the installation of drip irrigation technique on an area of 24,000 ha, flexible hose irrigation on 150,000 ha, the reduction of cotton area in favor of crops consuming less water, in particular orchards.
The representative of Turkmenistan mentioned that available water resources decreased in his country and forced the Government to revise the legal water framework in 2004.
Foreign participants shared their experience in financing the water sector in the arid areas in France (F. Pintus, IOWater), implementing water-saving technologies in Asia (A. Shrivastava, India), Switzerland’s vision for cooperation in Central Asia and the role of donors (V. Meyer, SDC), role of UNECE in the development of cooperation (B. Libert), adopting advanced water technologies in the world (A.Amani, UNESCO), developing national Water law (S.Burchi, International Association for Water Law), joint use of water infrastructure (Professor T.Mara, University of Geneva), etc.
In conclusion, the participants adopted the Conference Resolution.
Professor V.A.Dukhovniy,
Director of SIC ICWC
|