Mountain Partnership Holds Regional Meetings

Experts from Azerbaijan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Mongolia and Tajikistan recently convened at a meeting on "Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation and Development in Mountain Regions" exploring how best to address evidence of climate change impacts on mountain regions in international discussions. Participants highlighted impacts on agriculture, stressing that the climate change negotiations do not adequately consider mountain ecosystems and populations and identified priority challenges and strategic actions related to:
- branding and better communicating the global importance of Central Asian mountains;
- advocating for mountain states to act as one;
- consideration of a variety of renewable energy sources including the advantages and disadvantages of hydropower;
- sustainable use and management of water resources;
- collection of monitoring data and strengthening networks;
- efforts to combat forest degradation;
- identifying appropriate financial mechanisms for climate adaptation;
- improvement of grazing areas; and
- risk prevention of natural disasters.

The meeting is part of a series of three regional meetings on adaptation and development in mountain regions hosted by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat. The meeting for the Latin American region was held in Chile in October 2011, and the meeting for the African region will be held in Mbale (Uganda) from 16-18 November 2011.

Mountain Partnership Meeting Website

Eastern Partnership: Joint Declaration

Heads of State or Government and representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, the EU and its member States met in Warsaw (Poland) on 29-30 September to renew their commitments to the Eastern Partnership. The resulting Joint Declaration includes language addressing the green economy, climate change and energy.

Tehran Convention: COP-3 Outcomes

The five Parties to the Tehran Convention on the Environmental Protection of the Caspian Region agreed to two new protocols during COP-3 in Aktau (Kazakhstan). Once ratified, the Protocol on Regional Preparedness, Response and Cooperation in Combating Oil Pollution Incidents will introduce an emergency response system for oil pollution incidents. Agreement on the text of the Protocol on Environmental Impact Assessmetn in a Transboundary Context was reached "in principle" and is intended to provide common rules for the parties to assess any planned activities that could cause significant adverse effects on the Caspian Sea's marine environment. The protocol also would require countries to notify one another of such activities.

The draft Protocol on Regional Preparedness, Response and Cooperation in Combating Oil Pollutions Incidents (Document TC/COP3/6), as conveyed in the Note of the interim Secretariat to COP-3.

The draft Protocol on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Document TC/COP3/4), as conveyed in the Note of the interim Secretariat to COP-3.