Uzbekistan pitches new climate funding for Central Asia’s drylands at COP31
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said Uzbekistan wants development banks to help Central Asia pay for a drier future. Its proposal at the UN climate talks in Antalya places water security and land restoration at the centre of this effort.
Speaking at the COP31 Summit in Antalya, Türkiye, on Wednesday, Mirziyoyev called for grants and new forms of financing tailored to water and dryland projects. His wider plan also includes shared disaster warnings and turning an annual environmental expo into a year-round forum for investors and technology developers.
‘As a first step, we should establish an early warning system to enable timely and effective responses to natural disasters. The next important step is to develop common indicators and coordinated mechanisms for monitoring slow-onset climate events’.
‘Our country has already achieved, ahead of schedule, its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions per unit of GDP by 35 percent’, the president exclaimed, adding that Uzbekistan aims to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2035.
Read more: Uzbekistan and UNESCAP Launch Space-based Drought Monitoring for Central Asia
What the money could buy
A separate programme launched in Antalya with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan aims to mobilise €103.7m for projects in 15 Uzbek districts. It would help farmers install drip irrigation, switch to drought-resistant crops and get credit through local banks.
The programme also aims to restore 123,000 hectares of pasture in Uzbekistan, according to the Uzbek government.
The World Bank has highlighted the shared river basins of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya in Central Asian countries, where there is a lack of data sharing and infrastructure that is getting old.
The bank approved a $20 million grant in July to assist with the preparation of up to six projects, including those for water storage and more efficient irrigation, that involve at least two countries each.
