Section 5. Climate, Environment and Sustainable Development

14. The Sides currently work closely together on environmental issues, climate and nature protection, and sustainable development. As part of the International Climate Initiative (ICI), the German Side is currently supporting numerous projects aimed at energy efficiency, as well as projects on biodiversity protection and ecosystem restoration. In addition, the German Side allocated the ICI funds from 2022 to the Multi-Partner Human Security Trust Fund for the Aral Sea Region. Implementation is planned to commence in 2023.

15. Since 2018, environmental cooperation has been based on the Memorandum of Understanding regarding Cooperation in the Field of Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development between the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety of the Federal Republic of Germany and the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Ecology and Environmental Protection. The main focus has been on climate-resilient infrastructure projects and the development of a green economy. This successful work will be continued within the framework of an update to the existing Memorandum of Understanding. Projects on the energy-water-land nexus and the prevention of zoonoses are important upcoming activities that will strengthen the cooperation.

16. As part of the Green Central Asia Initiative, a regional climate change adaptation strategy has been prepared. The German Side plans to support its implementation. Moreover, the German Side is currently implementing projects on knowledge transfer, capacity building and data collection through the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam and the Martin Luther University in Halle. The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research is already supporting the Republic of Uzbekistan by means of effective knowledge transfer and hydrological modelling. Annual scholarships are awarded to Uzbek students enrolled in the Masterʼs course on integrated water resource management at the Kazakh-German University. The German side is examining the possible establishment of a KGU branch in the Republic of Uzbekistan; this could take the form of a centre of excellence on sustainability, environmental and climate-related issues. If considered necessary and useful in this context, funding for potential measures to prepare an institutional partnership may be applied for on the basis of calls for relevant tenders.

17. The Sides will continue the implementation of the project to reduce N2O emissions from the production of nitric acid in the framework of the climate initiative group “Nitric Acid” (NACAG).