Green Central Asia initiative launched by Germany

KABUL are particularly affected by climate change, a challenge to regional security, says Germany.

A ministerial conference in Berlin was looking at the impact of climate change on regional security in Central Asia, Germany’s Federal Foreign Office said.

The event is aimed to foster stronger regional cooperation, improve the exchange of information and form connections with academia and civil society.

In Central Asia and Afghanistan, climate change has had a particularly severe impact on water, land and soils due to the melting of mountain glaciers.

Rising sea levels, desertification and the destruction of ecosystems are increasingly threatening to deprive people of their livelihoods, jeopardising the stability of states and societies.

The Federal Foreign Office affirmed its desire to support regional integration between the six Central Asian countries to encourage dialogue on the consequences of climate change and the risks associated with it.

Berlin is pursuing a preventive and stabilising foreign policy in the region and, to this end, is supporting the European Union’s strategy for Central Asia, which was adopted in June 2019.

The conference at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin began today (Wednesday), seeking to boost cooperation in the region as well as an exchange between policy-makers, academia and civil society.

Representatives from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are taking part in the conference. A joint declaration on cooperation in the field of climate and security is to be signed.

The aim of the Green Central Asia initiative is to create better access to information and promote academic cooperation in the Central Asian states and Afghanistan during the next four years.

sa/mud