7TH CENTRAL ASIA CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE
The 7th Central Asia Climate Change Conference (CACCC-2025), held under the theme "Achieving the Global Climate Finance Goal through Regional and National Actions in Central Asia", brought together over 250 regional and international experts, government representatives, and development partners to advance collective climate action.
Parallel Session 3.1. "Water and Energy Nexus in Central Asia under a Changing Climate", held on May 14 and moderated by Mr. Dmitry Petrin (World Bank), focused on promoting operational frameworks (institutions and tools) for integrated water-energy governance and advancing data-driven climate resilience strategies.
Dr. Dinara Ziganshina, Director of SIC ICWC, presented the preliminary outcomes of the CAWEP/World Bank regional Water-Energy Modeling project implemented in partnership with SIC ICWC. The project, supported by a technical working group of experts from Central Asian countries, aims to refine integrated WEAP-LEAP models to evaluate the impacts of climate and socio-economic scenarios on water-energy management in the Aral Sea Basin.
Dr. D. Ziganshina highlighted key regional modeling scenarios on water allocation, hydropower optimization, agricultural water use, and climate variability effects. She stressed the importance of building a common modeling platform to support joint decision-making and cooperation between riparian countries.
The session also featured a presentation by Mr. Takayoshi Kato, Environmental Economist of the OECD and lead of the IKI-funded Nexus project, who underlined the role of innovative financing mechanisms and regional collaboration to achieve climate-resilient water and energy systems.
The discussions concluded with practical recommendations for enhancing data exchange, scenario modeling, and institutional cooperation across the region to operationalize the water-energy nexus approach.
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