There are two substantive environmental problems in Kyrgyzstan - glaciers and uranium tailings - Mukambetov

Bishkek, Oct. 23, 2018. /Kabar/. There are two important vulnerable areas in the field of ecology in Kyrgyzstan: mountains and uranium tailings, Deputy Head of the Government Administration Murat Mukambetov told at the Mountain Forum - 2018, which is being held in Bishkek.

He said that today the world community recognizes climate change as a global problem of mankind.

“The negative effects of climate change affect all countries, especially mountainous states. Kyrgyzstan is a mountainous country. And according to research on the resilience to climate change, our country ranked third among the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, which are most vulnerable to climate change. The country has already seen a reduction in the area of ​​glaciers. In addition, there remains the problem of the presence of uranium tailings,” he said.

Mukambetov noted that Kyrgyzstan is the first mountainous country in Central Asia, a member of the mountain partnership at the government level.

“We are one of the two highest mountain countries in Central Asia. And we are actively participating in the mountain movement to include the issue of sustainable mountain development in defense of the interests of mountain countries in the international negotiation agenda and decision-making processes on a number of global issues related to sustainable development. In particular, in 1998, at the initiative of Kyrgyzstan, the UN General Assembly made a historic decision to hold an international year of mountains in 2002. The same year, Kyrgyzstan hosted a mountain summit in Bishkek. These events were able to attract the attention of the world community to the mountain problem,” he added.

Deputy Head of the Government Administration of the Kyrgyz Republic stressed that another important environmental issue in Central Asia is the legacy of a radioactive industry of the Soviet era - uranium tailings.

“In order to solve this problem, Kyrgyzstan came up with an initiative to update the UN resolution on preventing threats to Central Asia in the international conference “Uranium Tailings of Central Asia - Joint Efforts to Reduce Risks” in May 2018,” Murat Mukambetov concluded.