On March 22, 2023, in New York City, the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Leader of the Nation Emomali Rahmon delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the UN Conference on the Midterm Comprehensive Review of the Objectives of the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development, 2018-2028”.
During his speech, Emomali Rahmon noted that Tajikistan has been promoting issues related to water resources in the global development agenda for more than two decades. In particular, at the initiative of our country, the United Nations General Assembly adopted 9 resolutions on water issues, and their implementation laid a
worthy basis for achieving agreed global water targets.
Of course, Member States and United Nations agencies, including members of the Group of Friends of Water, play an important role in this process. The Republic of Tajikistan highly appreciates cooperation
with the UN and the states of the world to achieve global goals in the field of water.
It is well known that water resources today are seriously affected by various challenges and threats that affect all areas of people’s lives, especially food security, green energy production and the sustainability of nature.
In this series, climate change, as a factor affecting drinking water resources, is also at the center of our attention.
On the other hand, the rapid growth of the world’s population leads to an increase in the demand for water.
These two factors have led to the fact that over the past five decades, per capita water supply in the world has decreased by almost two and a half times, and in some regions of the world, including Central Asia, by more than four times.
Moreover, currently two billion people on the planet do not have access to safe drinking water and more than three and a half billion people do not have access to relatively good sanitation.
In this regard, within the framework of the second Dushanbe conference on the Decade of Water, which played a key role in the process of preparing for the UN Water Conference in New York, our republic presented the Water Action Agenda.
“Tajikistan, within the framework of the United Nations, including during the implementation of the International Year for the Protection of Glaciers, continued integrated efforts to address water and climate issues,” said Emomali Rahmon.
In this context, in 2025 Dushanbe will host a high-level international conference on the conservation of glaciers.
The President of Tajikistan stressed that our country, on whose territory 60 percent of the water resources of the Central Asian region are formed, within the framework of its chairmanship in the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea, will strengthen its efforts to further expand cooperation in the field of water in Central Asia.
In the Republic of Tajikistan, 98 percent of electricity is generated by hydroelectric power plants, and this is at a time when we have mastered only
5 percent of the hydropower potential of our country.
Therefore, it was decided to double our hydropower potential by 2050 and make our respective contribution to the development of the “green” economy.
It should be noted that today Tajikistan ranks sixth in the world in terms of the share of electricity generation from renewable water sources, that is, “green” energy.
During his speech, the Head of the Republic proposed holding the next United Nations Water Conference in Tajikistan in 2028 at the end of the International Decade for Action on Water Resources. In addition, he considered it appropriate to make extensive use of the Dushanbe Water Process as a platform for tracking the implementation of actions and commitments, especially the Water Action Agenda.
It was also proposed to develop and implement specific national, regional and international programs for the protection and efficient use of all sources of drinking water.
Emomali Rahmon expressed confidence that this step, of course, is in line with the country’s obligations to implement the Global Climate Agenda and requires fruitful cooperation with all partners.
At the same time, it is necessary to develop and implement reliable modern mechanisms for water supply and effective management of water issues.
“Thus, by joint efforts it is possible to achieve agreed international goals related to water,” concluded the President of the Republic of Tajikistan.
Source: trend