AKIPRESS.COM - The Steering Committee of the National Policy Dialogue (NPD) on water resources management decided to develop a road map for implementation of the principles of integrated water resource management in Turkmenistan on April 3 in Ashgabat, the UNECE reported on April 7.
Around 40 representatives of different stakeholders and donors attended the fourth meeting of the NPD Steering Committee. The meeting was co-chaired by Niyazmuhamet Gyrlov, Deputy Minister of Water Economy, and Rejepgeldi Meredov, Chair of the Environmental Committee of the Turkmen Parliament. The meeting was organized in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan became a Party to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) in 2012. The road map to be developed will assist in applying the principles of that treaty. Also at the meeting, the Steering Committee decided to start to raise awareness about the potential benefits of joining the related United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) environmental treaties, such as the Protocol on Water and Health and the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents (Industrial Accidents Convention). Since Turkmenistan’s accession to the Water Convention, different ministries have expressed an interest in learning more about these legal instruments.
The UNECE team, led by UNECE Deputy Executive Secretary Andrey Vasiliyev, had bilateral meetings in four different ministries to discuss plans for cooperation in more detail. Ministries confirmed their interest in learning more about the Industrial Accidents Convention and the UNECE/World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe Protocol on Water and Health. Turkmenistan can receive technical assistance from the secretariats of both those instruments before becoming the Party.