Caspian Sea issue to be raised at UN environmental conference

A Turkmen delegation headed by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov will attend the Global Summit on Climate Change of 'Rio +20', which will take place next week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Turkmen government said.

'A number of important initiatives of our country related to the global environmental problems facing humanity today will be presented to the world community at this forum', the report says.

Turkmenistan will put forward initiatives including establishing a UN inter-regional centre in Ashgabat to address climate change issues, stating its willingness to provide the entire infrastructure.

The importance of the Organisation of the Caspian Environment Forum (KEF) as a permanent platform for addressing environmental issues of the Caspian Sea Basin and developing relevant proposals and recommendations will be also discussed.

The initiatives put forward also include problems on saving the Aral Sea, rational use of water resources in the region and the introduction of 'green' technologies in the energy sector.

State Information Service 'Turkmen Dovlet Khabarlary' in its comments notes the importance attached by Turkmenistan to creating a reliable system of environmental protection of the Caspian Sea is first of all due to its special status of being the largest domestic reservoir on the planet, isolated from the world's oceans.

Many types of flora and fauna for example along with the Caspian seal, one of the smallest earless members of the seal family, is endemic here and makes an invaluable gene pool in the biological diversity of the region.

In addition, the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea is a place for wintering of many species of fish, including sturgeon and its numerous bays and shallow waters are a natural nursery for young herring and mullet.

'At the same time, industrialisation also entails environmental issues related to human activities and makes the ecological system of the Caspian Sea extremely vulnerable', the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper reported.


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