Sustainable Development Strategy for Turkmenistan
Having joined the world community 1991/1992, Turkmenistan stated its adherence to international obligations and joined the Convention on Biodiversity, the Convention on Desertification Control, the Convention on Climate Changes, the Vienna Convention, and the Montreal Protocol on Protection of the Ozone Layer, Aarhus Convention, etc. The country has also developed and is now realizing the Program on reduction of use of ozone-depleting substances. The Ministry of Nature Protection of Turkmenistan and the UN Development Program, together with the national experts, developed the Draft National Program for the Natural Environment Protection in Turkmenistan (NPNEP) in 1998. A plan of actions necessary to implement the National Program was signed between Turkmenistan and the UNEP. It includes eight pilot projects, which outline priority tasks for 1998-2000 connected with a reform of the environmental policy and institutional relations. Furthermore, Turkmenistan is one of the first Central Asian countries to adopt a long-term vision and a national path to development. The national Strategy for Socioeconomic Reform for the Period Up to 2010, approved in December 1999, laid out the development goals and norms of the country. It identified four priority areas for the achievement of its long-term vision: (a) economic independence; (b) food security; (c) social protection; and (d) ecological safety. Certain efforts have also been undertaken to improve the environmental literacy. The future ecologists and meteorologists are educated at the Department of Ecology of the Natural-Geographical Division, Magtymguly Turkmen State University. The structure of the Ministry of Nature Protection of Turkmenistan has been reformed. The National Institute of Deserts, Flora and Fauna was created under this Ministry; this allowed to consolidate the scientific research in natural conservation and to increase the contribution of Turkmenistan toward the implementation of both national and regional programs and projects.
Meeting Reports
