On March 8, second meeting of the Water and Climate Coalition Leaders took place at the headquarters of the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva, where the official delegation of Tajikistan was represented by Minister of Energy and Water Resources Daler Juma and Chairman of the Committee for Environmental Protection under the Government of Tajikistan Bahodur Sheralizoda.

While addressing a number of agenda items with regard to climate action, Juma in his statement noted President Emomali Rahmon’s new initiative to declare 2025 as the International Year for the Preservation of Glaciers and to create a special International Fund for Glaciers.

The main goal of this initiative is to raise awareness of the rapid melting of glaciers around the world and to promote the measures to eliminate possible consequences of their melting.

Participants also discussed other initiatives presented within the framework of the high-level panel aimed at an integrated solution of water problems and climate change. At the end of the meeting, the final document Call to Action was adopted, and the parties agreed to develop an Action Plan for its implementation in the nearest future.

The first outcomes of work of the Leaders of the Coalition on Water and Climate should be presented within the framework of the 2023 UN Conference on the Water Action Decade co-hosted by Tajikistan and the Netherlands in March 2023 in New York.

A high-level panel on Water and Climate entitled “Water and Climate Coalition Leaders” was established in 2021 by the World Meteorological Organization and UN-Water to jointly implement an integrated global water and climate agenda, and includes 16 high-level politicians and experts. In view of the valuable contribution to the promotion of water and climate issues on the global agenda, President Rahmon was among the first invited to the Water and Climate Leaders Panel.