Astana. March 31. KazTAG – Secretary of the Security Council of Kyrgyzstan Marat Imankulov, at a roundtable on water diplomacy at the Oi-Ordo Center for Expert Initiatives in Bishkek, spoke about the need for a well-thought-out, joint approach to saving the Aral Sea.

According to Marat Imankulov, the drying up of the Aral Sea has changed the climate in the region, causing annual frosts in the Chui Valley of Kyrgyzstan.

“I was born and raised in a village near Tokmok. We don’t remember such frosts in the spring as children. Spring came in early March, everything melted. We had a regular harvest, including apricots and dried apricots. After the Aral dried up, frosts began every year. The Chui Valley hardly gets any harvest. This is a direct impact of the state of the Aral Sea. The wind blows salts and sands there, takes them into the upper layers of the atmosphere, goes straight to our glaciers and falls there. That is why the glaciers are melting so intensively. That is why the Aral Sea needs to be saved,” Imankulov said.

The speaker expressed confidence that saving the Aral Sea as a whole could change the regional climate and balance it.

Low snowfall in winter significantly affects water resources and glaciers, and severe frosts lead to additional load on the energy complex and unplanned depletion of water reserves.

“Of course, this affects all of Central Asia. Climate change, as well as the tragedy of the drying up of the Aral Sea, have led to the melting of glaciers. Over the past 50-70 years, the area of ​​glaciation in Kyrgyzstan has decreased by 1,262.3 sq. km (16% of all glaciation). The situation with glaciers is no longer a concern, but a serious alarm and requires emergency measures to be taken today,” Imankulov noted in his report.

The Secretary of the Security Council of the Kyrgyz Republic emphasized that despite the difficulties it is experiencing, Kyrgyzstan unconditionally and 100% complies with all international agreements on providing its neighbors with water.

“The coordinated and agreed activities of the Central Asian countries among themselves and further in the international arena will not only significantly strengthen the international subjectivity of the entire region, but will also allow for the effective promotion and defense of the national interests of the countries, both jointly and independently. For its part, the Kyrgyz Republic, relying on its neighbors and allies, intends to always act consistently, as well as actively participate in the implementation of the policy of integration and reduction of threats to regional security,” Imankulov concluded.

It should be noted that environmental safety is a priority for the Kyrgyz authorities. The country is working to preserve glaciers, and there is a five-year program for the development of mountain regions for 2023-2027, with Dinara Kemelova appointed as the president’s special representative for its implementation.

Indeed, the connection between the intensive melting of glaciers and the salinization of the dried-up Aral Sea bottom and the increase in desertification of Aralkum have a direct influence on each other. The environmental project of the late Kyrgyz journalist Naryn Aiyp provided scientific evidence of the movement of dust and salt particles from Aralkum to the Tien Shan and Pamir mountain ranges. In addition, in the special report of Channel 7 Kyrgyzstan, Araldyn Armany, water management specialists expressed their opinions on the impact of the shallowing of the Aral Sea on all of Central Asia.

Let us recall that in the near future the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea will be transformed into the Organization for Cooperation of the Aral Sea Basin Countries. At the initiative of Kyrgyzstan, one of its structural bodies is creating the Interstate Energy Commission of Central Asia and specialized working groups. By the way, the draft organizational structure of the improved IFAS was handed over to the Kyrgyz side in January of this year.

Photo source: waterservice.kz

https://kaztag.kz/ru/news/aral-nado-spasat-sekretar-sovbeza-kyrgyzstana