Turkmenistan is a party to 11 environmental conventions, including the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, the UN Convention on Biodiversity, the Framework (Tehran) Convention for the Protection of Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea, the Ramsar Convention, etc., actively implementing their provisions in its environmental strategies and programs. Protection of atmospheric air, preservation of biodiversity, development of “green belts”, effective management of water, land and forest resources have become priorities of state policy.
Turkmenistan was one of the first in 1996 to ratify the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, starting the implementation of a national action plan a year after, the main aspects of which were related to the rational use of pastures, development of forestry, consolidation and afforestation of mobile sands, improvement of the condition of irrigated lands and applied research. The relevance of this work is due to the fact that deserts occupy 80 percent of the country's territory, and both cultivated and natural lands are subject to desertification to varying degrees. The scientific basis for solving the problems of desertification is provided by the National Institute of Deserts, Flora and Fauna of the State Committee for Environmental Protection and Land Resources of Turkmenistan. The implementation of the provisions of the Convention is enshrined in the National Forest Program and the National Strategy on Climate Change implemented in Turkmenistan. In addition, the Law on Pastures was introduced, the Water Code was revised, changes were made to the Land Code, and the national action program to combat desertification was revised.
As a party to the Framework (Tehran) Convention for the Protection of Marine Environment, Turkmenistan, within the framework of the Caspian Environmental Program (CEP), has developed a program document - the National Caspian Action Plan (NCAP, 2008) as a basis for coordinating actions to address national and transboundary environmental problems of the Caspian Sea. The document says that the Caspian region of Turkmenistan plays a large national economic and social role in the country's economy, therefore, sustainable development of the region, including systematic and efficient use of its resources, environmental protection and social security of the population, and preservation of biodiversity are in the top of the state agenda. The purpose of the NCAP is to determine the strategic directions of planning and sustainable development of the Caspian region of Turkmenistan and to ensure the implementation of measures to address the complex of national and transboundary environmental problems of the Caspian Sea and its coast, which are part of a regional effort, taking into account the provisions of the Tehran Convention and its protocols.
Turkmenistan joined the Ramsar Convention in 2009, nominating its first Ramsar territory - the Gulf of Turkmenbashy on the Caspian Sea. The activities of the Ramsar Regional Initiative for Central Asia (RRI-CA) in Turkmenistan have been carried out since the announcement of its organization in 2016 with the support of the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention, the Coordination Committee of the Ramsar Regional Initiative, in partnership with the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC). The report on the activities of the RRI-CA for 2016-2020 for Turkmenistan, published at the end of July, notes that during this period more than 40% of all wetlands (wetlands) of the country were surveyed, their zoning was carried out.
As a component of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, Turkmenistan has signed Memorandums of Understanding on the conservation of the Siberian Crane, Red Deer and Saiga. These are species whose habitats are directly related to wetlands, including Ramsar ones. In 2020, the African-Eurasian Agreement on Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) was signed, which is directly related to the Ramsar Convention strategy and the RRI-CA.
In the implementation of such measures and environmental policy in general, Turkmenistan, from the first days of independence, proceeded from the principled position that sustainable socio-economic development of the country is impossible without taking measures to improve the ecological state of the environment, creating optimal conditions for effective use, protection and reproduction of natural resource potential, ensuring favorable conditions for the life of the population.
Ogulgozel Rejepova
