By Rufat
Distinguished Colleagues,
Global climate change requires a comprehensive and integrated approach towards the use of natural resources. We are deeply convinced that the Copenhagen session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will approve a new comprehensive agreement on this issue. Every year natural disasters cause severe damage to agriculture, environment and the entire economy of such countries as Tajikistan, 93 % of the territory of which are covered with mountains.
The damage done to our country’s economy in recent years by such natural disasters as mud flows, land slides and floods is estimated at hundreds of millions US dollars. Unfortunately, that was paired with human casualties.
Assessment of climate change impact on the Tajikistan’s glaciers proved that during the period of observation that started in 1930 the total area of the glaciers has been reduced approximately by one third. Since glaciers and snowcaps are the main sources for water discharge into the rivers there is a probability that in the near future the rivers flows will be diminished by 5 to 15 per cent.
From this lofty rostrum, we would like to once again, remind everyone of the problems caused by the degradation of the Aral Sea. The use of land, on a large scale, for cultivating such agricultural crops as cotton and rice, which consume a lot of water, has become the major cause of this ecological disaster.
The most reasonable solutions to the current situation, which is characterized by salinization of soil and irretrievable losses of irrigation water in the amount from 30 up to 60 percent, would be adopting specific water saving measures such as rehabilitation of irrigation systems, reclamation of irrigated land, introduction of advanced irrigation technologies, and partial replacement of cotton and rice with less water consuming crops, which would also help to address the issues of food crisis.
Our hope is that the UN, other international organizations, regional commissions and relevant institutions can render constructive assistance to this issue, which is of utmost significance for our region.
As the initiator of the International Year of Freshwater, 2003 and the International Decade of Action “Water for Life”, 2005-2010 Tajikistan believes that it is of paramount importance to expedite the implementation of the UN water agenda, and to supplement it with achieving the Decade goals.
The World Water Day on March 22, 2010 will mark the fifth year since the commencement of the Water Decade. In this regard, Tajikistan proposes to hold on this day a High level Dialogue of the UN General Assembly to discuss the implementation of the International Water Decade and the Millennium Development Goals on water and sanitation. This event can become a milestone to a midterm review of the implementation of the half of the Decade, and evaluation of progress in the achievement of MDGs. My Government has already put forward a proposal to hold in Dushanbe in 2010 a Conference for a midterm review, which would serve as one of the preparatory events for the UN Summit on MDGs 2010. I do hope that this initiative will find understanding and receive support from all Member States.
Taking into consideration the water crises that was aggravated by the growth of population and global climate change, the international community should take specific measures to ensure equitable and integrated use of water resources in order to meet the needs of people, environment and economies of all countries. To this end, the Republic of Tajikistan proposed to declare the year 2012 as the International year of Water Diplomacy, with the aim to develop, within the UN, further coordinated steps towards rational use of water resources at the national, regional and international levels. Our country has the intention to further advance this issue at the UN General Assembly, and hope for support from Member States.
