Ashgabat, 22 January 2009 – Climate change and mitigation of its consequences in the context of sustainable development have been discussed at a two-day national conference in Ashgabat. The conference gathered decision makers from Turkmenistan’s key ministries and organizations charged with implementation of national and global nature protection strategies. It was organized by the Ministry of Nature Protection of Turkmenistan and United Nations Development Programme to initiate a national inter-ministerial dialogue on climate change to raise awareness of Turkmenistan authorities of climate change implications for the country’s development agenda. The inter-ministerial dialogue is also expected to help develop negotiation capacity of Turkmenistan on the climate change plan adopted last year in Bali and enhance national experts’ capacity to assess investment and financial flows to address climate change.

It is now well recognized that sustainable economic growth cannot be achieved without mitigation and adaptation to climate change. In Turkmenistan, there is also a growing understanding that climate change can have severe impact on development issues and should be mitigated through specific initiatives, improvement of technologies as well as financial and political mechanisms as provided in UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and Kyoto Protocol. To this effect, Turkmenistan will endevour to develop policy options to address climate change across different sectors and economic activities within UNDP global project on climate change mitigation. “Understanding of technicalities of key issues of climate change will be improved, and assessment of investment and financial flows will be made to address climate change in three flagship sectors of national economy,” said Deputy Minister of Nature Protection Jumamurat Saparmuradov in his opening remarks. This will help Turkmenistan integrate climate change issues into national economic planning and come up with a national position for climate change negotiations.

UNDP Resident Representative Richard Young noted that climate change has not only environmental dimension but also serious socio-economic and even political, implications at global, regional and national levels. He urged the conference participants to agree on the steps to build knowledge and expertise and develop targeted action plans. He assured the conference of UNDP’s lasting support for climate-friendly policies and mechanisms as a result of which carbon finance projects could be introduced in the country in the near future. This would allow for the application of modern energy-efficient technologies and the receipt of substantial revenues, Richard Young said.

The conference discussed global and national aspects of climate change implications. On the global side, the forum reviewed building blocks of Bali Road Map and their effects on the national policies as well as issues related to climate change mitigation. In the context of Turkmenistan, the conference discussed ways of climate change mitigation in selected sectors of national economy, namely power engineering, oil and gas, land management, forestry, and water management and their adaptation to climate change. UNDP international experts made presentations on the issue of financing and technologies as well as methodologies of assessment of investment and financial flows in relation to climate change.

On results of discussions, the conference came up with specific recommendations and convened a special session to present the outcomes of the inter-ministerial dialogue. Noting that climate change can significantly affect the country’s economy, above all water sector and agriculture, as well as population health, the conference recommended that institutional coordination mechanism should be set up for the purpose of data processing and preparation of cost estimations and benefits from gas emission reduction; that prospects of environmental projects in Turkmenistan should be evaluated through Clean Development Mechanism of Kyoto Protocol which requires setting up an authorized body in Turkmenistan; and, finally, that a National Programme on climate change should be adopted in Turkmenistan and included in the national porgramme of development until 2020 with a view to reducing greenhouse effects and adapting to climate change implications for the key sectors of national economy.