The Azerbaijani government, known to the world mainly for the export of hydrocarbons and for the Formula One Grand Prix, is currently hosting the twenty-ninth edition of the Conference of the Parties in Baku (Cop29). A conference that this year recorded notable absences, including the leaders of the United States, Russia, China, India and Brazil, the main causes of global emissions. Among the new arrivals was the surprising presence of a Taliban delegation, which expressed strong concern about the consequences of climate change on the Central Asian region.
Uzbekistan, another country in the region, also actively participated in the work of the Cop29, and Italy intends to deepen bilateral relations with this country in order to combat the environmental disasters that afflict Central Asia.
Let’s proceed in order. Speaking on November 12th during the Conference of the Parties, the Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev he underlined how his country has set itself the objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 35% by 2030, increasing the share of energy green used at 40% of national needs. Mirziyoyev he also called for the use of a multilateral approach, involving all countries in the region, in order to better prevent pollution of cross-border water resources. The reference is obviously to the Aral Sea.
It should not be forgotten, in fact, that Uzbekistan (together with neighboring Kazakhstan) was at the center of one of the most serious environmental disasters in recent history, which saw the Aral Sea go from the fourth largest in the world to a covered wasteland of salt, weeds and deposition of pollutants. The causes of this environmental disaster date back to the 1960s, when the Soviet government diverted the waters of the two main rivers that fed the lakethe Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, to increase cotton production in the surrounding areas.
On the sidelines of Cop29 our country organized a side event in collaboration with Sogesidthe Water Plant Management Company controlled by the Mef, e Aics (Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development) focused precisely on the environmental disaster of the lake and entitled “Aral Sea: participatory governance for environmental restoration”.
The event, in which the Uzbek Minister for Ecology also spoke Aziz Abdukhakimovis part of a broader collaborative relationship that the Sogesid and theAics they are pursuing with the Uzbek government and other states in the region. The collaboration began last January, when the study of a project aimed at mitigating the effects of the environmental disaster of the Aral Sea and safeguarding local biodiversity was proposed. In May the signing at the Farnesina of a declaration of intent between theAics and the Sogesid gave a new impetus to the project, which is now progressively taking shape.
Despite the clear limitations of this Conference of the Partiesthe will of some countries to fight anthropogenic interference on the climate, including Uzbekistan, seemed strong and resolute. This opens up great opportunities for strategic cooperation in regions of the world where Italy has so far been lacking.
Uzbekistan and the other Central Asian states are part of that post-Soviet space which has maintained cordial relations with Russia, but which has madestrategic independence” a principle to be pursued with great determination. Therefore, it appears essential to continue along the cooperation path started.
