WATER DESERVES HIGHER PRIORITY ON DEVELOPMENT AGENDA – UN OFFICIAL

Water must be given higher priority on the development agenda, a top United Nations official told a global gathering that opened today in Istanbul, stressing that the problems the world faces with regard to this precious resource are enormous.

“Developing countries themselves need to increase investment in water, and systematically integrate water in poverty reduction strategies,” Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) told the opening of the 5th World Water Forum.

“The international community must also dramatically scale up its support. […] I urge leaders in all sectors to use this report as a guide and impetus for bold and sustained action to meet the world’s water needs,” he told the meeting, whose theme is “Bridging Divides for Water.”

Mr. Matsuura presented the latest UN World Water Development Report, which warns that the surging growth in global population, climate change, widespread mismanagement and increasing demand for energy have tightened the grip on the world’s evaporating water supplies.

As the world’s population has swollen to well over 6 billion people, some countries have already reached the limits of their water resources, according to the report compiled by over 20 UN agencies.

“Chronic underinvestment and poor governance in many parts of the world has left hundreds of millions of people deprived of their right to safe water and basic sanitation, vulnerable to disease and extreme hunger, and exposed to the risks of water-related disasters, environmental degradation and conflict,” stated the Director-General.

“After decades of inaction, the problems we face are enormous. If left unattended, they may become insurmountable,” he added.

Also addressing the meeting, which runs until 22 March, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang said that water and sanitation issues are critical to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the internationally-agreed targets to slash extreme poverty and other ills by 2015.

Mr. Sha, who is representing Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Forum, reminded participants that the world is lagging behind in reaching its MDG target to reduce by half the proportion of the population without access to basic sanitation services.

The Istanbul meeting comes ahead of International World Water Day, observed annually on 22 March to focus attention on the importance of freshwater and advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

Source: CARNet, 19.03.2009

I. CHUDINOV: KYRGYZSTAN READY FOR COOPERATION IN WATER AND ENERGY ISSUES WITH ALL COUNTRIES

In water and energy issues Kyrgyzstan has always adhered to principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, mutual benefit and good governance, which are the fundamental norms of the international rights.

Prime Minister of KR I. Chudinov during his speech at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul stated that based on these principles Kyrgyzstan is ready for a broad and comprehensive cooperation with all countries on a mutually beneficial basis.

As the Government press-service informed, on the first day of this summit the head of KR Government voiced the Kyrgyz Republic’s position in effective water management issues both within CA region and beyond it in the face of existing challenges and threats of global warming.

“Today’s summit has a special importance as we, the representatives of different regions, are here to talk about the water problems, adaptation of our states to current global threats and challenges related with water. In the face of energy and financial issues in the world, these problems lead to activation of water and energy dialogues between stakeholders. Therefore, there is the need today for stating openly about the position of our country".

According to PM, climate change has directly contributed to worsening of the problems with the drinking water resulting in scarcity of clean water in Central Asia. The Kyrgyz Republic believes that today’s situation around water problems has a long-standing history and traditions, which dictate the interested parties (countries) its firm logic for the best solution of this problem.

During the Soviet era hydropower facilities have been built both in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan , which established a shared energy system in Central Asia and Kazakhstan to provide the region with power energy, as well as accumulate sufficient amount of irrigation water for the neighboring countries during the fall-winter period.

The main principle of successful functioning of this system was compensation of undergenerated power energy in fall-winter period and annual damages caused by flooding in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan through the supply of equal fuel and energy resources from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Thus, the management of water resources in Central Asia was based on the principle of compensation, which must be considered as reasonable and fair argument.

This regime in accordance with all norms and principles of the international rights can be characterized as the established regional tradition supported in the interstate agreements.

It should be stated that after the collapse of the USSR the downstream countries terminated their responsibilities in the above described system, which has led to the break of the established energy system.

In exchange of the services in accumulation and supply of water the downstream countries could supply fuel and energy resources or compensate the costs on a mutually beneficial basis on the legal base agreed by all parties. Such a principle was laid in the Agreement of 1996 between Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan on energy and water resources and gas pipelines in CA region.

Lack of a programme cooperation resulted in 2008 in a power crisis caused by insufficient supply of water in the region's biggest Toktogul water reservoir as a consequence of low level of sediment and inflows.

“In this context, Kyrgyzstan believes that water problems can not be considered separate from the energy ones as compensation of power energy for accumulation of irrigation water and maintaining of hydro facilities is equally vital for the people of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, as sufficient supply of irrigation water for agriculture is for Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan”.

Kyrgyzstan realizes that water has always had not only life but also economic value for all countries of the region. Given this interdependence of the countries in the region in water and energy resources, Kyrgyzstan suggested to use the only possible principle of mutually beneficial interaction – the principle of intersectoral balance of interests on water and energy problems.

Source: CARNet, 19.03.2009

JAPAN ISSUES US$66,000 FOR FOREST-PLANTING ZONE IN ARAL

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan in Uzbekistan Tsutomu Hiraoka signed a grant-contract on allocation of US$66,300 to the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS). The grant will be used to implement a project "Equipment with agriculture tools for creation of protection forest-planting zone in Aral Sea".

The organization will receive tractors, plough, grubber equipment for creation of farm at sand soil for organization of forest-planting at dried area of Aral Sea.

Tsutomu Hiraoka noted that the realization of the project will help to prevent negative impact of salinization and dust level of Aral Sea area, boost economic activity, improve health of population in the region, etc.

Source: CARNet, 19.03.2009