Training seminar"Legal framework for climate change mitigation and adaptation in Central Asia"
On September 26−28, 2019, the Kazakh-German University, with the support of the OSCE Programme Office in Nur-Sultan, organized a training seminar «Legal framework for climate change mitigation and adaptation in Central Asia”. The seminar was facilitated by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Climate Law and Governance Initiative (CLGI), UNDP in Kazakhstan and the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia. The main objective of the workshop was to raise awareness among government officials on mitigation and adaptation to climate change, promote renewable energy and prepare for the upcoming UNFCCC climate change Conference of the parties (COP-25) in Santiago, Chile. The event was attended by representatives of state organizations from 6 Central Asian countries — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
On the first day of the seminar, the issues of expanding the national and regional legal framework for action and promoting innovations and tools of the Paris agreement were raised. Specifically for the seminar, Prof. Marie-Claire Cordonnier-Segger, Dr. Marcus Gehring and Dr. Alexandra Harrington prepared video presentations and were able to speak online despite attending the UN Climate Summit in New York. Important input was made by speakers with extensive experience in climate change adaptation, RES distribution and transboundary water resources management: Prof. Dr. Lutz Mez (Free University of Berlin), Manon Cassara (World Bank), Moldir Sadyk (EBRD) and Alexander Belyi (UNDP in Kazakhstan).
On the second day of the seminar, the problems of adaptation to climate change through effective water resources management were discussed, as well as the legal aspects of climate change mitigation and intersectoral partnership in the field of renewable energy. Dr. Barbara Janusz-Pawletta (DKU), Alexander Nikolaenko (GIZ), Nurlan Kapenov (Samruk-Green Energy) and Svetlana Dolgikh (Kazgidromet) shared their knowledge on these aspects.
The two-day seminar was accompanied by environmental training on PR in the field of climate change, conducted by the Eco-forum of public organizations of Kazakhstan. At the end of the training, the participants organized a Press-Conference, where each of them was able to demonstrate and consolidate their knowledge and experience gained during the seminar.
DKU intends to continue to actively develop international cooperation to fight against climate change, to distribute Renewable Energy technologies, promote «green» energy, as well as to contribute by Central Asian countries to the 25th UN Climate Change Conference in Santiago.