Ashgabat: Kazakhstan calls on the international community to support efforts to preserve the Caspian Sea, the country’s President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, said at the International Peace and Trust Forum in Ashgabat, Trend reports.
According to Trend News Agency, the head of state highlighted that the current rate of shallowing could lead to irreversible consequences, potentially triggering a chain reaction of environmental, socio-economic, and political issues.
Kazakhstan has proposed developing a special intergovernmental program focused on preventing the ecosystem’s destruction and the Caspian Sea’s shallowing. The president urged global cooperation to preserve this vital water body and emphasized the need for coordinated water diplomacy, critiquing existing international institutions for operating in isolation with limited mandates not aligned with the escalating water issues.
Tokayev further pointed out the absence of a dedicated UN structure for water issues. He proposed the establishment of an international water organization to unify the mandates of various UN entities. He suggested that transforming UNWATER into a specialized agency or UN organization would be the most effective approach.