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As the initiator of the International Decade for Action "Water for Sustainable Development, 2018-2028" and as Chair of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea, Tajikistan reiterates its intention to further prioritize the climate change agenda in the important international frameworks. The Republic is making every effort to draw the attention of the governments across the region and the world community to proactive actions and taking urgent measures to combat climate changes.

In this regard it should be noted that on October 27, 2021, while delivering his speech at the High-level debates “Implementation of Climate Actions”, President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon stated, that Tajikistan positively contributes to the prevention of global warming as the share of Tajikistan in the global emissions is the lowest, accounting to 0.0003 percent only.

However, within the Paris Agreement, Tajikistan has voluntarily committed not to exceed its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80-90 percent of the 1990s level. We would be able to reduce this amount to 65-75% of the baseline in case of securing the international community’s support.

We will achieve the reduction of CO² emissions mainly through the continued use of large sources of renewable energy, particularly hydro and solar power.

Emomali Rahmon emphasized, that the integrated use of these two types of energy will not only increase the production of clean renewable energy but also contribute to the rational use of the country's water resources.

Taking into account the efforts of the international community to achieve net zero emissions, we intend to double our clean energy generation capacity by 2050.

It should be noted, that Tajikistan currently generates 98% of its electricity from hydropower plants and ranks sixth in the world in terms of the percentage of generation and use of green energy.

With the construction of new hydropower facilities, in particular the Rogun hydropower plant with a capacity of 3,600 megawatts/h, our country will elevate its ranking by two points.

The Government of Tajikistan is taking active measures on reforestation and expansion of the forestry area in the country.

The President of Tajikistan also noted that in line with the Paris Agreement, Tajikistan recently developed and submitted its updated Nationally Determined Contribution for greenhouse gas emissions to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

It is generally acknowledged that the Republic of Tajikistan has abundant water resources. The country forms about sixty (60) percent of the water resources of Central Asia. The main source of these waters is the region's glacial resources.

In the twentieth (20) century, there were more than 14.500 glaciers in Tajikistan covering 8 percent of the country’s total territory.

Unfortunately, due to climate change impact, these glaciers began to melt intensively. Today, more than 1,000 glaciers of Tajikistan have completely melted. The volume of the mass of the country's glaciers has decreased by almost a third over a relatively short period.

However, other related initiatives would give impetus to a new global movement to take the necessary collective action to combat climate changes. These initiatives organically fit into the mainstream of the measures currently taken by the world community within the framework of the Paris Agreement to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and prevent the global temperature from rising above two degrees Celsius (2.0 ° C).

Meanwhile, achieving the set goals can take many years without securing the required resources, that is finance, science, and technology.

Therefore, assistance from the international community in this area will remain as essential for many developing countries.

The material, prepared by the Embassy of the Republic of Tajikistan in the Republic of Azerbaijan, is published unexpurgated.

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