The fifth meeting of the Steering Committee of the European Union (EU) Water Initiative’s National Policy Dialogue on Integrated Water Resources Management was held in Dushanbe on 23 May 2013, to discuss a new Water Sector Reform Strategy, drafted by an interministerial working group supported by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The Strategy proposes a range of changes in order to apply the principles of integrated water resources management (IWRM) in Tajikistan.
Some 60 representatives of different stakeholders and donors involved in improving the water resources situation in Tajikistan attended the meeting, which was chaired by the Minister of Land Reclamation and Water Resources of Tajikistan, H.E. Mr. Rahmat Bobokalonov.
The reforms outlined in the draft strategy involve institutional changes, such as the separation of policymaking and operational functions in the water sector at the national level and the devolution of the relevant decision-making powers to the levels of the four river basin organizations to be created. The implementation of the reforms is foreseen for the autumn of 2013.
At the meeting, the interministerial working group presented a final report of the project on setting of targets in the context of the UNECE/World Health Organization (WHO) Protocol on Water and Health. Setting of national targets is an encouraging development, as Tajikistan is not yet a Party to the Protocol.
In addition, the Steering Committee took note of the ongoing consultations on the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. In May, UNECE facilitated organization of national consultations on water issues in Tajikistan in the context of post-2015 development agenda.
The Steering Committee meetings are organized by the Tajik Ministry of Land Reclamation and Water Resources in cooperation with UNECE. The meeting was supported by the “Water Management and Basin Organisations in Central Asia (WMBOCA)” project, which is funded by the EU and implemented by the Transboundary Water Management in Central Asia Programme of the German Agency for International Cooperation.
The next meeting of the Steering Committee will take place in autumn 2013.
Note to editors:
National Policy Dialogues (NPDs) on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) are the main operational instrument of the European Union Water Initiative (EUWI) Component for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. UNECE is the strategic partner for support to the policy dialogue processes on IWRM and it has been funding the work of the Working Group on the Water Sector Reform Strategy.
NPDs are under way in the following countries of the region: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine.
More information is available at: http://www.unece.org/env/water/npd
Contact information:
Mr. Peep Mardiste
Regional Coordinator
EU Water Initiative (EUWI) National Policy Dialogues
UNECE
E-mail: [email protected]