Europe & CIS

Against the background of the work of ENVSEC initiative in Central Asia and its extensive relations with the Governments of the region, it is proposed to undertake a detailed assessment of environment-related security risks in the Eastern Caspian and Amu-Darya river basins with a particular focus on the environment and security implications of projected developments as well as on identifying opportunities to strengthen the cooperation around common issues. It is expected that the assessments shared by the Governments will result both in a clearer understanding of security aspects of environmental issues and in identification / scoping of follow-up interventions where some of the risks as well as cooperation opportunities can be addressed in a practical manner. Assessments will also directly help strengthen capacities of involved local and regional institutions and promote policy dialogue among the parties. The project will strive to achieve the following objectives: - strengthen understanding of environment-security risks and linkages in the Eastern Caspian and Amu- Darya basin among target groups, policy-makers and the population; - improve cooperation on specific environment-security issues among states; - Initiate remediation and other activities to address priority sources of tension and risk; In order to achieve the objectives, the project will: - Conduct an analysis of environment and natural resources related conflicts, tensions and environmental implications of security issues and policies in the Eastern Caspian and Amu-Darya basin; - Complement existing national and regional information by field work by teams of international and local experts to assess specific risks related to environment, water quality and pollution sampling (including support to joint sampling at exit/entry points on the state borders); if appropriate, help set up a longer- term system for monitoring environment and security threats and developments in the basin on a continuous basis; - Build awareness of the priority issues/ hot spots among the general public and policy-makers, i.e. in cooperation with the ENVSEC media and public participation activities (videos will be taken on the field missions and used for media releases); - Evaluate needs and help countries mobilize resources for future capacity -building, support to policy development, remediation and other actions to address the environment and security concerns in the basin. A particular focus will be put on designing future follow-up activities with the direct involvement of ENVSEC partner agencies and local / regional stakeholders.

UNDP CO and ministries of Environment in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan

www.envsec.org