INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE "THE SILK ROAD OF KNOWLEDGE: SCIENCE MEETS GREEN POLICY"
On February 22-23, 2024, the international conference "The Silk Road of Knowledge: Science meets Green Policy" was organized by the Kazakh-German University. The conference was aimed at enhancing cooperation and networking among scientists, policy makers and practitioners, as well as exchange of experiences and accumulation of knowledge in the field of integrated water resources management, food security, infrastructure development and energy efficiency practices in the context of climate change.
The conference was organized in two high-level panel discussions and a number of thematic sessions:
- Reviving the Aral Sea Restoration: innovations for sustainable progress
- Sustainable land management in Central Asia and carbon benefits
- Hydrogen production in Kazakhstan and Trans-Caspian hydrogen transportation
- Climate vulnerabilities in Central Asia: universities and policy mainstreaming
- GIS technologies and modelling approaches for more sustainable management of natural resources
- Nexus of shared resources’ management in the countries of Central Asia
The panel discussion "Bridging the Gap between Science, Education and Political Practice" invited representatives of governmental authorities as well as representatives of scientific and research centers to discuss cooperation between policy and science to mitigate climate change in Central Asia.
Dinara Ziganshina, Director of SIC ICWC, talked on the role of the Scientific Information Center in water decision-making processes. She noted the need for joint systematic work to improve data availability and reliability, forecasting, and better communication of research results to decision-makers. The need for long-term joint research programs on water and climate in Central Asia was also noted.
Galina Stulina, SIC ICWC, spoke at the session titled“Reviving the Aral Sea Restoration: innovations for sustainable progress”». She presented the results of expeditions conducted by SIC ICWC in cooperation with a number of organizations. As a result of the expeditions (two expeditions in 2019-2020 and two expeditions in 2023), an area of 2.7 million ha was covered by research. The multidisciplinary nature of the expeditions allowed to get a comprehensive view of the state of the dried seabed, make conclusions and recommendations on the direction of actions on the dried seabed and the Aral Sea Region. The future plans include the development of the geoinformation system "The dried seabed of the Aral Sea".
The ways and mechanisms of possible intersectoral interactions between water, energy, agriculture and environment were discussed at the session on “Nexus of shared resources’ management in the countries of Central Asia”. Representatives of OECD, SIC ICWC and UNECE spoke at the session as partners in implementation of the IKI Project "Regional mechanisms for low-carbon, climate-resilient transformations of water-energy-land-use nexus in Central Asia".
Dinara Ziganshina, Director of SIC ICWC presented some tools and assessments that can contribute to better understanding and practical application of nexus approaches at various levels. Among the presented works, in particular, were the "Assessment of water, energy and food security and development prospects", the discussion paper "Rethinking Institutional and Financial Mechanisms on Water and Energy Cooperation in Central Asia" and "Territorial water security outlook".
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