The environmental situation of
the Aral Sea is attracting global attention. This matter will be addressed at the
One Water Summit, scheduled for September under the joint chairmanship of
Kazakhstan and France on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in
New York. A delegation led by Barbara Pompili, the French President’s Special
Envoy for the One Water Summit, visited the Kyzylorda region to investigate the
issue. Visitors of the fisherman’s museum exhibition were demonstrated the
historical Aral Sea, once the fourth-largest lake in the world. The delegation also
visited the Kok-Aral Dam to observe the current state of the Small Aral Sea and
toured a forest nursery where locally grown seedlings are planted on the dried
seabed to combat desertification.
«The environmental situation of
the Aral Sea is highly relevant today. We aim to raise this issue on the global
stage at the One Water Summit. Under our initiative, the One Planet Summit on
climate change has been held seven times. A total of 45 agreements were signed
following the events that gathered representatives from 140 countries. This
time, we anticipate the approval of specific initiatives,» Pompili said.
The summit will see the
announcement of a joint agenda by Kazakhstan and France.
«The main goal of the One Water
Summit is to draw global attention to water issues. Every country faces its own
challenges in this area. We are preparing to offer some solutions to these
problems,» noted Zulfiya Suleimenova, Kazakh President’s Special Envoy on
International Environmental Cooperation.
«The volume of water in the Aral
Sea surpasses 21 billion cubic meters, with current inflows exceeding those of
last year. Efforts to address the Aral Sea issue are underway, bolstered by Kazakhstan’s
chairmanship of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea. Also, the recently
established separate Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation in the country is
expected to yield positive results,» informed Serik Sermagambetov, head of the department
of natural resources and environmental management of the Kyzylorda region.
