President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s initiative to establish an International Water Organization under the auspices of the UN is timely. This view is shared by experts and representatives of international financial institutions. At the recent Regional Ecological Summit held in Astana, Valerie Hickey, Director for Environment at the World Bank Group, noted that Kazakhstan is demonstrating strong regional leadership by turning large-scale climate challenges into practical solutions. This approach is important not only for Central Asia but for the entire world. According to UN estimates, if current trends continue, by 2030 global demand for freshwater is projected to exceed available resources by 40%. Therefore, such a platform for global dialogue and joint solutions is especially relevant today.
«How to think about water?
It is a shared resource, whether we’re talking about rivers, whether we’re
talking about groundwater, whether we’re talking about the ocean. It’s a shared
resource. There has to be governance beyond country boundaries, and that’s what
Kazakhstan is having us focus on, and we’re very interested in seeing the
results of the dialogue they had this week,» said
Hickey.
Related Articles
