Section 1
2020 Calendar of events
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all events were organized in the online format since March
January
13-16 January – International Water Summit 2020/World Future Energy Summit 2020/ EcoWASTE 2020, Abu Dhabi, UAE
27-28 January – ADBI-ICHARM Policy Dialogue on Water-Related Disaster Resilience under Climate Change, ADB Institute, Tokyo, Japan
28 January – High-Level Conference “Green Central Asia” as part of the implementation of the EU New Strategy for Central Asia and Afghanistan, Berlin, Germany
February
2 February – World Wetlands Day
12-13 February – 9th Meeting of the EU-CA Working Group on Environment and Climate Change, Brussels, Belgium
19-20 February – 4th Annual International Congress and Exhibition “Hydropower Central Asia and Caspian 2020”, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
March
10-11 March – Workshop on Achievement of Environmental Goals through Energy Reform in the Asia-Pacific Region, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
14 March – International Day of Action for Rivers
22 March – World Water Day
26 March – Aral Sea Day
30-31 March – 2nd Meeting of the Expert Group on the Transboundary Water Allocation Handbook under the UNECE Water Convention
April
10 April – 78th meeting of ICWC (chaired by Kazakhstan)
22-23 April – Workshop on Integration of Renewable Energy in Energy Systems: Perspectives on Investment, Technology, and Policy (ADB Institute), Tokio, Japan
May
15 May –19th Meeting of the Compliance Committee under the Protocol on Water and Health
18 May – meeting of the Implementation Committee under the Water Convention, Geneva, Switzerland
20 May – 7th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development, Bangkok, Thailand
22 May – International Day for Biological Diversity
June
1-10 June – June Momentum for Climate Change
5 June – World Environment Day: “Time for Nature”
12 June – Conference “Women and Water Governance at Local, National and Transboundary Level”, Almaty, Kazakhstan
15 June – 1st Meeting of EU-CA WGECC Coordination Committee
15-19 June – 2020 Asian Clean Energy Forum, ADB
17 June – Desertification and Drought Day
22-24 June – Virtual Workshop on Meeting Environmental Objectives through Energy Sector Reforms in Asia and the Pacific: Energy Pricing Reforms and Emissions Reduction, ADB Institute
23-24 June – 2020 Berlin Climate and Security Conferences by the German Federal Foreign Office
25 June – Virtual Conference “Ecosystems”, San-Francisco, California, USA
July
27 July – Virtual Meeting on Water Security for Peace and Development in the Islamic World: Preparing the 9th World Water Forum, Dakar 2021”
28-29 July – Workshop on Legal Frameworks for Transboundary Water Cooperation within the UNECE Water Convention, Geneva, Switzerland
August
12 August – Day of the Caspian Sea
12-14 August – Virtual Conference on Low-Carbon Finance and the Sustainable Development Goals, ADB Institute
22 August – Earth Overshoot Day
24-28 August – Online World Water Week
31 August – 2 September – 11th Meeting of the Implementation Committee under the UNECE Water Convention, Geneva, Switzerland
September
14-20 September – 11th Central Asian Leadership Program on Environment for Sustainable Development, Almaty, Kazakhstan
17 September – Asia Region Online Workshop “Supporting the Monitoring and Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 6.5.2 on Transboundary Water Cooperation”, UNESCO, UNECE, ESCAP, GWP
19 September – World Cleanup Day
22-23 September – Regional Meeting on Water Resource Allocation and Environmental Flow Assessment in a Transboundary Context, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
23 September - 1 October – Virtual Workshop on Mobilizing Private Investment in Sustainable Infrastructure in Asia: Central Asian Experience, ADB Institute
30 September - 1 October – 15th Meeting of the Working Group on Integrated Water Resources Management, Geneva, Switzerland
October
2 October – 11th Meeting of the Task Force on Water and Climate under the UNECE Water Convention, Geneva, Switzerland
5-6 October – Virtual Regional Workshop on Equitable and Sustainable Water Allocation
15 October – International Day of Rural Women
19-23 October – 3rd Central Asian Conference on Climate Change, Dushanbe, Tajikistan
20-21 October – 3rd Meeting of the Expert Group on the Transboundary Water Allocation Handbook, Geneva, Switzerland
22-23 October – 6th Meeting Task Force on the Water-Food-Energy-Ecosystems Nexus, Geneva, Switzerland
29-30 October – IWRA Conference “Addressing Groundwater Resilience under Climate Change”
November
3 November – Webinar “Earth Observation and Geographic Information System: Applications for Agriculture Development”, ADB
4 November – International Online Conference “Give Life to Aral”, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
10 November –INBO International Liaison Bureau Meeting at the 18th “Europe-INBO 2020” International Conference
16-18 November - 7th International Conference on Drylands, Deserts and Desertification, Israel
17-20 November – meeting of the Technology Executive Committee to UNFCCC, Bonn, Germany
19 November – 10th Annual Central Asian Trade Forum “Central Asia: Development and Prosperity”, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
24 November – 79th ICWC Meeting (chaired by Turkmenistan)
24 November – Preparatory meeting for the 12th Meeting of the Implementation Committee under the UNECE Water Convention
24-25 November – International Symposium “Ecological Restoration and Management of the Aral Sea”, Urumqi, China
24-27 November – Regional Scientific and Practical Online Conference “Silk Road of Knowledge”, Almaty, Kazakhstan
December
7-8 December – 71st Meeting of the International Executive Council of ICID
7-8 December – 6th Meeting of the Roundtable on Financing Water
10 December – Korea International Water Week 2020, Daegu, Republic of Korea
16-17 December – UNECE Global Workshop on Financing Transboundary Basin Development
Major Events in Central Asia
High-level Conference “Green Central Asia” within the framework of the new EU Strategy for Central Asia and Afghanistan, 28 January, Berlin, Germany
To launch the Green Central Asia initiative, the German Federal Foreign Office hosted a Conference (28 January, Berlin). It brought together the foreign ministers of the Central Asian states and Afghanistan, as well as more than 250 participants to discuss the climate and security challenges facing Central Asian countries and Afghanistan, and how the “Green Central Asia” initiative can contribute to addressing them.
German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs H.E. Heiko Maas and his colleagues
from Central Asia and Afghanistan in Berlin, 28.01.2020, © Florian Gaertner/photothek.net
While the discussions touched on a wide range of issues, some key messages were highlighted. Particularly, Central Asia and Afghanistan are “hot spots” where the impacts of climate change will result in economic and environmental losses. A common regional strategy, with the support of international actors, could help make successes more systematic. Mutual trust is essential for this.
The meeting resulted in the signing of a Joint Declaration of Intent on cooperation in the field of climate and security in Central Asia and Afghanistan within the framework of the “Green Central Asia” Initiative.
The Conference Summary is available on: ïî ññûëêå
Best of Green Central Asia Conference 2020 on YouTube: íà YouTube
Central Asia Climate Change Conference, 19-23 October, Dushanbe, Tajikistan
The Third Central Asia Climate Change Conference (CACCC-2020) was organized under the framework of the “Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Program for the Aral Sea Basin” (CAMP4ASB) and is a continuation of the World Bank’s initiative on climate change knowledge and regional information exchange in Central Asia launched in 2013.
The main objective of the Conference is to strengthen a regional dialogue on climate change and sustainable development by promoting information and knowledge exchange in Central Asia. Other task of the Conference is to raise awareness of the countries in the region on lessons have been learned in times of pandemic (COVID-19). The event brought together 232 people from 13 states.
There were four thematic sessions on: (1) Climate change impacts and policy making process in times of COVID-19; (2) Science and research perspectives on climate change in times of COVID-19; (3) Climate-related information and knowledge: challenges and perspectives; (4) Financing climate change actions: international funds and other resources. The Outcome Document calls for countries in the region to actively participate in the development of IPCC assessment reports and regional climate change research, develop and present a regional position on climate change at the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to UNFCCC, mobilize private investors for climate financing, and appeal to the Green Climate Fund to pay more attention to applications for national and regional projects.
The full report on CACCC-2020 in Russian
International Online Conference “Give Life to Aral”, 4 November, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
The Agency of Information and Mass Communications under the Administration of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan in cooperation with UN offices in Uzbekistan held the International Online Conference “Give life to the Aral Sea” within the framework of the “The Aral Sea Region – a zone of ecological innovations and technologies” initiative by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The Conference brought together at about 100 people. It discussed innovative tools and mechanisms in the field of environmental restoration; priority measures to address health problems in the Aral region, as well as prospects of implementing international experience in the development of social entrepreneurship in the region as an additional measure to mitigate the consequences of the environmental disaster. At the same time, the hashtag #GiveLifetoAral has been launched in social networks to disseminate current information about the situation around the Aral Sea (#GiveLifetoAral).
Source: facebook.com/UN.Uzbekistan
International Symposium “Ecological Restoration and Management of the Aral Sea”, 24-25 November, Urumqi, China
The International Symposium was organized by CAREC Institute in partnership with UNEP, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology & Geography, CAS and in cooperation with the Secretariat of the Alliance of International Scientific Organizations (ANSO), CAS, UN Office in China, Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in China, Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, National University of Uzbekistan and a number of other international and national research centers, organizations, and HEIs.
More than 200 participants from more than 30 countries and regions attended the symposium. The main aim of this symposium was to establish an international platform for scientific research promotion and knowledge sharing on ecological safeguarding and restoration of the Aral Sea. Participants discussed the most pressing issues related to restoration of the natural environment in the Aral Sea region affected by the desiccation of the Aral Sea.
On the second day, a bilateral webinar was held on the “Joint Uzbek-Chinese Key Laboratory of Eco-Biomes in Arid Land”. The CAREC Institute proposed the creation of an Aral Sea Observatory as the next step in laying the groundwork for a practical platform for multi-stakeholder cooperation.
Regional Scientific and Practical Online Conference “Silk Road of Knowledge”, 24–27 November, Almaty, Kazakhstan
The Regional Scientific and Practical Online Conference “Silk Road of Knowledge” was organized by GKU with the financial support of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. It gathered 300 people.
The Program of the Conference included 7 thematic sessions: (1) Climate Impact Assessment; (2) Water under Climate Change; (3) Land Management and Food Security under Climate Change; (4) Potentials of Digitalization for Increasing Sustainability in Agriculture; (5) Water and Climate Security in Central Asia; (6) Regional Infrastructure and Logistics under Climate Change; (7) Decarbonization of Energy Systems and Climate Neutrality, as well as Youth Session: Rational Water Use. An abstracts volume has been launched on the Conference as well.
Prior to the Conference, an online event “UNESCO Water Family: Cooperation in Education and Science in Central Asia” was organized by GKU in partnership with UNESCO Office in Almaty (24 November, videos).