Global Environment Facility to provide funding to Tajikistan for sustainable water management

AKIPRESS.COM - The Council of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) agreed to support FAO projects in Azerbaijan and Tajikistan worth a total of USD 12.5 million. These projects will contribute to achieving the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically those on sustainable management of water (SDG 6) and life on land (SDG 15). "In an upstream country like Tajikistan, the support of the Global Environment Facility to transboundary water management, combined with FAO expertise, will have a long-term positive impact on its development path of participating countries and other downstream countries of the region," commented the FAO Representative to Tajikistan, Oleg Guchgeldiyev, on the approval of the project.
The Panj River is a tributary of the Amu Darya, forming a considerable part of the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border. Recent temperature changes have started affecting the Panj River basin, including the water flow and amplifying drought and flood risks.
The five-year FAO project will institutionalize transboundary water management between Tajikistan and Afghanistan for the Panj River Sub Basin. It will support the establishment of a new operational mechanism and foster effective transboundary water management to manage nexus trade-offs in the river basin.
The two countries will jointly conduct a diagnostic analysis that considers climate change, environmental flows, and development trade-offs, which will serve as the baseline for a transboundary water management strategy and action programme. Subsequently, countries will pilot joint water management and climate change actions for effective drought and flood risk mitigation, sustainable water, and land management, and share results and experiences.
The project also aims to improve knowledge of key partners, reinforce participatory processes, and mainstream gender equality.