INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS DISCUSS THE ASPECTS OF THE PRESERVATION OF THE ECOSYSTEMS OF THE KARAKUM DESERT

On the eve of the International Day for Biological Diversity (or World Biodiversity Day), which is celebrated on May 22, a seminar on the assessment of the state of the flora and fauna of Turkmenistan with the participation of the representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment Protection and the scientific community of the country was held in Ashgabat.

Axel Paulsch, a representative of the Secretariat of the Interstate Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which operates under the Central Asian Desert Initiative (CADI), and Jens Wunderlich, a specialist, representing the Michael Succow Foundation took part in the seminar. 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment Protection of Turkmenistan with assistance of the Michael Succow Foundation, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Construction and Nuclear Safety of Germany with the participation of the University of Greifswald, the University of Botany and Landscape Ecology coordinates the activities carried out by our country in the framework of the regional initiative. This partnership will continue until the end of this year. 

Foreign experts made the presentations on the key ideas of IPBES, in particular, land restoration, the implementation of CADI objectives aimed at researching and preserving the biodiversity of Eurasian deserts. The Turkmen segment of the initiative, aimed at the preservation and development of the Karakum Desert ecosystems, includes investments in protected areas, forest management and land management, as well as environmental education.