Kazakh President’s environmental initiatives discussed in Baku
Azerbaijan’s ADA University hosted a roundtable meeting on Caspian Problem: Causes, Consequences and Solutions devoted to discussing the problem of the Caspian Sea's shrinkage, Qazinform News Agency reports.
The event was organized at the initiative of the Kazakh Embassy in Baku, on the threshold of the Regional Environmental Summit scheduled for April 22-24 in Astana.
The roundtable brought together representatives of academic communities, research institutions, government agencies, diplomatic missions, and international organizations.
In his remarks, Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan Alim Bayel emphasized the special importance President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev attaches to environmental issues. On March 15, Kazakhstan will hold a nationwide referendum on adopting a new Constitution, which includes provisions obligating citizens to preserve nature and treat its resources with care. The state, in turn, aims to ensure environmental protection, favorable for human life and health.
The Ambassador also informed participants about the upcoming Regional Environmental Summit, scheduled to take place in April in Astana. He further outlined President Tokayev’s initiative to establish a water organization within the framework of the United Nations system.
Aysel Yagubova, Executive Director of the Clean Energy Center of the Organization for Economic Cooperation, addressed the causes and consequences of the Caspian Sea’s shrinkage for coastal states and stressed the need to draw the attention of the international community to this issue.
Zulfiya Suleimenova, Ambassador-at-Large of Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry, praised the initiative to discuss Caspian Sea problems, emphasizing that the current shrinkage cannot be explained solely by natural cycles. She noted that global warming has a major negative impact on the condition of the sea. Suleimenova also highlighted Kazakhstan’s achievements in environmental protection measures.
Elchin Allahverdiyev, Director of the Department of Climate Diplomacy at Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, urged Caspian littoral states to unite efforts in addressing the environmental challenges of the Caspian Sea. He noted that for the first time, the shrinkage of the sea is causing not only ecological but also economic problems.
Serik Akhmetov, Head of Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea Research Institute, presented participants with a decade-by-decade overview of the sea’s ecological condition and proposed possible solutions, including the introduction of water-saving technologies.
Earlier, Qazinform reported that Kazakhstan had initiated an interstate program to preserve the water resources of the Caspian Sea.
