ISTC SAC Central Asian Water Forum

On 2nd and 3rd November 2017, ISTC Science Advisory Committee (SAC) Central Asian Water Forum took place at Rahat Palace Hotel in Almaty, Kazakhstan which had earlier initiated discussions on water management in Central Asia and the Caucasus looking at the problems faced by those countries and seeking collaboration between the countries to develop new ideas to resolve their water management issues in the regions which are become increasingly important in future.

The seminar sought to set up new networks of like minded scientists to deal with these problems and issues. While out of the first seminar, 3 working groups were asked to develop 3 trans-boundary project proposals. The Central Asian Seminar's objective is to take the next step in developing those proposals to potential funded projects.The Three projects are 1): Monitoring the Amu Daryia river basin. 2): Transboundary Groundwaters and 3): Hydrochemistry of Uranium mining tailings.

9 countries participated in the Water Forum from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Georgia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan. There were in total 96 Forum participants.ISTC is a valuable conduit to help science and scientists in Central Asia deal with many of the security issues through supporting the many projects and initiatives in the area and this new Central Asian Water Forum is a good platform for dealing with this very important regional issue. 

Dr. Jay and Dr. Abid and Mohammad Daud Hamidi also displayed posters regarding PEER project defining its activities, ongoing actions and achievements. Dr. Jay also gave presentation and explained about the importance of project. Participants showed keen interests in the project. Further details of the event are given on http://www.istc.int/en/article/20079