A round table «Project of the adaptation component of the updated NDC of Turkmenistan» was held in Ashgabat with the participation of representatives of the main ministries, academic circles and civil society of the country. The purpose of the event was to present the updated adaptation component of Turkmenistan's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and discuss strategic issues related to adaptation to climate change in the country.

The meeting took place within the framework of the project «Development of the national adaptation planning process in Turkmenistan», implemented by the United Nations Development Program with financial support from the Green Climate Fund in cooperation with the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan.

The round table participants gained an idea of the priority areas of scientific and technological policy in the field of combating the negative consequences of climate change. They were introduced to a wide range of data sources on climate technologies, as well as the costs and benefits of their application. An exchange of views also took place on the prospects for developing a Climate Finance Concept in Turkmenistan, which will be aimed at creating favorable conditions in the country for the implementation of a wide range of investment projects using special mechanisms for the provision of resources.

As a party to the Paris Climate Agreement, Turkmenistan is consistently implementing long-term measures aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as adapting the country’s economic and social sectors to the long-term consequences of climate change. The country submitted its first NDC to the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2016, and every five years it updates this key national climate policy document with more ambitious goals in order to increase its contribution to global efforts.

The updated adaptation component of the NDC consolidates the main results of a large number of studies and modeling results on the long-term consequences of climate change in Turkmenistan. An assessment was made of the potential costs and benefits of Turkmenistan from the implementation of adaptation measures in priority sectors for the period until 2100. Using data from geographic information systems, project experts studied in detail the geographically determined climatic vulnerabilities of the velayats of Turkmenistan, which will make it possible to more accurately determine priority adaptation measures for each velayat.

As a result of all the research and assessments, the project experts proposed more than 100 adaptation measures for implementation, which were ranked in detail based on the timing and costs of their implementation. In order to attract financial resources from international partners and donors to Turkmenistan, the project carried out a detailed analysis of the list of potential external sources of financing for climate projects in the country. 45 potential foreign sources of financing climate projects have been identified that may be interested in cooperation with Turkmenistan in the implementation of adaptation and mitigation measures. Particular attention is paid to the close relationship of the results obtained by the project with the future systematic work of Turkmenistan within the framework of the Enhanced Transparency Mechanism of the Paris Agreement.