Central Asia pledges action over Aral Sea<\/p>\n
By Douglas Busvine<\/p>\n
DASHKHOVUZ, Turkmenistan (Reuter): Cash-strapped Central Asian
\nstates pledged action on the Aral Sea ecological disaster zone
\nbut their one-day summit on Friday last week was marked by
\ndivisions over joint funding of a clean-up.<\/p>\n
Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov told a news conference
\nthe five states directly affected by the sea's rapid shrinkage
\nhad to act together if they were to solve the problem and attract
\ninternational help.<\/p>\n
\"Nobody will help us if the states affected by this disaster
\ndo not devote their own attention to it,\" Karimov said.<\/p>\n
Divided between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea was
\nonce the world's fourth largest lake but has been shrinking since
\n1960 after Soviet planners expanded intensive irrigation on its
\ntributaries, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, to boost the
\ncotton harvest.<\/p>\n
Between 1960 and 1993 the lake's level fell by more than 16
\nmeters, its area by 45 percent and its volume by three-quarters.
\nSalinity rose threefold, killing fish stocks and decimating a
\nfishing industry which used to support 60,000 people.<\/p>\n
Now the sea has retreated as much as 150 km (95 km) from its
\nold shores, exposing salt beds laced with pesticides, which are
\nwhipped up and dumped by winds as much as 500 km (310 miles) away
\n-- hitting the health of the local population and damaging crops.<\/p>\n
The international community, headed by the World Bank, has
\ndonated more than US$40 million to feasibility studies on an
\naction plan to improve the environmental situation.<\/p>\n
Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev opened talks by
\nberating his counterparts for paying only 15 percent of the cash
\nthe five states pledged two years ago into a joint fund on saving
\nthe Aral Sea.<\/p>\n
The five states had pledged to pay founding contributions of
\none percent of their national budgets into the fund.<\/p>\n
But at the closing news conference a common view emerged that
\nspending by individual states on environmental projects linked to
\nthe Aral, not deposited in the fund itself, should be counted as
\ncontributions.<\/p>\n
\"The information in President Nazarbayev's report gave a
\nrather one-sided view of the problem,\" Uzbekistan's President
\nIslam Karimov said.<\/p>\n
\"A lot of money has been spent where people are most affected,
\nbut this money came from national budgets and was not contributed
\nto the common fund,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Nazarbayev was confirmed as the fund's chairman, but its role
\nlooked to have been downgraded after the non-payers -- led by
\nTurkmenistan -- appeared to have won the day.<\/p>\n
Presidents from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
\nTurkmenistan and Uzbekistan attended the summit. A Russian
\ndelegation was absent due to scheduling problems.<\/p>\n
The meeting also covered procedural and bureaucratic issues.
\nThe interstate council on saving the Aral Sea, a second structure
\nwith a coordinating role, will in future be chaired by Turkmen
\nDeputy Prime Minister Matkarim Radzhapov.<\/p>\n
Peter Whitford, a World Bank official, said the apparent
\ndowngrading of the international fund was merely a recognition of
\nthe situation that already exists. But he described the meeting
\noverall as a step forward.<\/p>\n
\"They are conscious of the need to attract international
\ncooperation and they realize that being united and positive is
\nnecessary to do that,\" he said.<\/p>\n
An international conference on the Aral Sea will be held under
\nUnited Nations auspices in Nukus, in Uzbekistan's autonomous
\nrepublic of Karakalpakstan, this September.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/central-asia-pledges-action-over-aral-sea-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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