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September
A Regional Exhibition ĞIntegrated Water Resources Management in
Central Asiağ was held in Osh (Kyrgyzstan) on September 8, 2007
The Exhibition was organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and
Processing Industry of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, International Water
Management Institute (IWMI), Scientific-Information Center of the Interstate
Coordination Water Commission for Central Asia (SIC ICWC) under financial
support by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
The Exhibition demonstrated achievements in the water resource management at
canal, WUA and on-farm level. Water saving technologies, the best water
distributing practices in WUAs and methods for the yield increase and
agrotechnics were presented.
- I would like to congratulate the irrigators of the region with such an
exhibition which was conducted in the region for the first time, said Heart
Manthrithilake, Head of the IWMI Regional Office. The Exhibition joined many
projects and organizations, that allowed exchanging with the experience
accumulated. Using the knowledge, water saving could be achieved and this
would provide for significant improvement of the living standards in the
region.
August
Roundtable Meeting on “Bright”
Spots Project
On August 16, 2007, a roundtable
meeting within the framework of the ADB-funded project on “Rehabilitation of
Degraded Land” was held at the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and
Melioration. The main objective of the meeting was to present the project
findings and generate a dialogue between the policy makers, farmers and
other stakeholders on the possibilities of upscaling the results of the
project for rehabilitating abandoned land through bio-remediation and
creation of ‘Bright Spots’ through active participation of farmers.
The meeting was opened by Prof. T.
Hudaiberdiev, the Rector of TIIM and welcome speeches were given by
Mr. Hong Wei, Country Director of ADB in Uzbekistan, Prof. A. Khanazarov,
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources of Uzbekistan and Dr S.
Beniwal, PFU-CGIAR representative in Central Asia. Dr A. Qureshi, Acting
Head of IWMI-Tashkent highlighted the project achievements and explained the
agenda of the meeting. The speakers emphasized the growing problems of land
degradation as a result of soil salinization and the importance of
activities and findings of the “Bright” spot project in improving land
quality in Uzbekistan. Participants included members of Parliament of
Uzbekistan, representatives of Ministries for land and water, land
authorities, research institutions and farmers.
Following the presentations on
project results and findings, a comprehensive discussion took place on the
possibilities of up-scaling the project results. Dr A. Qureshi facilitated
this discussion. Farmers participating in the project highlighted the
positive impact of the project initiatives on their livelihoods, especially
the licorice initiative on a 100 ha of abandoned land. However, they drew
the attention of policy makers on the issues of financial resources and
incentives to carry out these activities. Policy makers shared their views
and promised to take necessary steps in this regard. Participants agreed
that bio-remediation can be one of the cost-effective ways in rehabilitating
saline lands but stressed the needs for more research in this field.
The ADB
Country Director appreciated the project achievements and described it as a
successful initiative with a potential of creating greater impact. He
suggested sharing more detailed results of the project with policy makers
and other stakeholders. He showed his commitment to support these activities
in future as well. The participants also highlighted the need for more
knowledge sharing through the creation of dialogue between farmers,
scientist and policy makers.
April
VISIT of MEMBERS OF
THE BOARD OF THE INTERNATIONAL WATER MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE (IWMI) TO
UZBEKISTAN
IWMI Board
of Governors meets in Uzbekistan, March 2007
On 22
March the Board of Governors of the International Water Management Institute
gathered for its 41st meeting in Tashkent. The seven members of
the Board came to Tashkent to visit the IWMI regional representative
office, review the progress of ongoing programs and explore the
opportunities for further expansion of IWMI activities in Central Asia.
Information about achievements and ongoing activities of the Institute was
delivered by Dr Herath Manthrithilake, Head of IWMI-CA. He briefed about the
status of ongoing “Integrated water resource management in the Fergana
Valley” and “Enabling communities in the Aral Sea basin to combat water and
land resource degradation through the creation of Bright Spots” projects, as
well as some other project proposals.
Beside
the Board members, key administrators and scientists of the IWMI regional
office, Uzbek Government officials and representatives of CGIAR PFU have
participated in the opening session of the Meeting. Mr Rustam Ibragimov,
Deputy Chair of the Committee for Agriculture, Water Industry and Ecology of
the Senate of Uzbekistan, and Dr Abdushukur Khanazarov, Deputy Minister of
Agriculture and Water Resources and CGIAR focal point, thanked IWMI for
their valuable collaboration with local NARS and made a number of proposals
to strengthen this cooperation. Dr Raj Paroda, Head of CGIAR PFU – CAC, made
a detailed presentation on the activities of CGIAR Programs in CA, emerging
challenges and options for agricultural research for development in the
region.
One of
the important events during the visit of the Board of Governors was signing
of a Memorandum of Understanding between IWMI and the Gulistan State
University by Dr. Peter McCornick,
Director of IWMI for Asia,
and Dr Ulugbek Tashkenbaiev, Rector of the GSU. This is expected to
strengthen scientific and practical collaboration between the institutions.
Members
of the Board also visited the experimental site in the Syrdarya province,
where IWMI led project on ‘Rehabilitation of Degraded Lands’ is being
implemented jointly with ICARDA, ICBA and three Central Asian countries.
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Press-Release in Russian *.PDF [96 Kb]
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Press-Release in English *.PDF [11 Kb]
6 March
The project
Annual Meeting has summarized the results achieved in the last year and discussed
the action plan for 2007-2008. The main achievement emphasized during this
meeting was that the project has succeeded in raising interest and common
understanding of principles of IWRM in the project areas and this has had a
significant role in the mutual understanding and support of Ministries of
Central Asian countries.
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Press-Release in English *.PDF [14 Kb]
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Download the
PowerPoint Presentation *.PPT [376 Kb]
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Press-Release in Russian *.PDF [95 Kb]
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