Delegates at an international conference in Tajikistan on the conservation of water have agreed to collaborate with the United Nations to address water-related issues.
The four-day meeting, which started on Monday, is part of a 10-year action plan titled “Water for Sustainable Development,” 2018-2028.
The central Asian country is home to some of the world’s largest glaciers. It hosts a high-level conference every two years to discuss sustainable water development.
On Wednesday, Japan’s Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko attended one of the interactive dialogue sessions online that focused on disaster risk reduction. She said in a video message, “The speed at which we need to take actions must meet or exceed the speed of changes to the environment due to climate change.”
Later in the day, attendees at a plenary session adopted a declaration pledging to work with the UN on five themes, including improving access to safe drinking water and coordinating responses in natural disasters.
Tajikistan is said to account for some 60 percent of Central Asia’s water resources. But with its glaciers shrinking due to global warming, Tajikistan faces the urgent task of making the most of cross-border water resources, and responding to water-related disasters.