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NATIONAL REPORT ON IHP RELATED ACTIVITIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN

1. ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN IN THE PERIOD JUNE 2014 – MAY 2016

1.1 Meetings of the IHP National Committee 1.1.1 Decisions regarding the composition of the IHP National Committee National Committee (NC) on UNESCO IHP was established following the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 1999. The Chairman of NC is Prof. V.E.Chub, General Director of the Centre of Hydrometeorological Service at the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The Executive Secretary is Prof. S.V.Myagkov, Deputy Director of Hydrometeorological Research Institute. NC includes the representatives of the ministries and agencies of the Republic of Uzbekistan – Academy of Sciences, UzGipromeliovodhoz, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of the Higher and Secondary Special Education, “Syrdarya Water Management Basin Administration”, Uzbekgidrogeologiya, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Macroeconomy and Statistics. 1.1.2. National Committee carries out its activities in close cooperation with specialists from other ministries, departments, the Academy of Sciences - whose activities are related to the issues of hydrology and water resources in accordance with the IHP-VIII.

1.2 Activities at national level in the framework of the IHP

1.2.1 National/local scientific and technical meetings

The National Committee conducts scientific-and-technical conferences devoted to International Days related to the water problems – World Water Day (22 March), World Meteorological Day (23 March), World Environment Day (5 June), World Day to Combat Desertification (17 June) annually. The program of conferences is compiled of presentations of scientists, experts and students. The discussions on different aspects of hydrology, water resources management, issues of water resources in climate change conditions, natural disasters caused by water, education on water aspects and others are organized in the framework of the conferences. The reports on the water resources problems in the Aral Sea basin are made at all conferences. 1.2.2 Participation in IHP Steering Committees/Working Groups National Committee closely cooperates with UNESCO IHP program, UNESCO National Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, UNESCO mission in Uzbekistan providing the requested information and disseminating the received information among all parties concerned.

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1.2.3 Research/applied projects supported or sponsored Hydrological and climate information is provided to national projects implemented under the Program of the Aral Sea Basin (PASB-3), under the aegis of the International Fund for the Aral Sea Saving under the chairmanship of Uzbekistan. Currently Uzbekistan is in the process of preparation of regional project “Reducing vulnerabilities of populations in Central Asia region from glacier lake outburst floods in changing climate by introducing adaptation strategies”. The project proposal will be submitted to Adaptation Fund via UNESCO for consideration. In Uzbekistan the project “Support to the regional cooperation in the field of assessment of the high-altitude snow-and-glacial systems for the development of the integrated methods of the management of water resources of snow-and-glacial systems in the Central Asia” supported with UNDP is being implemented. 1.2.4 Collaboration with other national and international organizations and/or programmes The National Committee actively cooperates with international organizations including World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Secretariats of the Global Environmental Conventions (UN FCCC, UN CCD, UN CBD), Global Ecological Facility, UNDP, UNEP, WB, GTZ, JICA, KOICA and others. In Uzbekistan the following projects are being implemented with support of UNDP:

- “Support to the regional cooperation in the field of assessment of the high-altitude snow-and-glacial systems for the development of the integrated methods of the management of water resources of snow-and-glacial systems in the Central Asia” (UNDP/UNESCO)

- “Strengthening of the disaster risks management in Uzbekistan” - “Climate risks management in Uzbekistan” .

1.2.5 Organization of special courses National Committee of UNESCO IHP organizes and holds special courses on hydrology for the students of the State University and Tashkent Institute of Irrigation. It coordinates the cooperation with the lecturers on hydrology and hydrogeology of the State University and Institute of Irrigation and Melioration Uzhydromet organizes introductory courses on execution of hydrometric works, practical lessons on hydrometry and on the water cadastre for the students of the State University, Institute of Irrigation, Hydrometeorological College.

1.3 Participation in IHP courses According to recommendations of the National Committee the experts of Uzbekistan participated in the following activities of IHP:

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- Training and Capacity Development in Preventive Diplomacy for Transboundary Water Management with a Focus on Central Asia, Delft, the Netherlands, September - October 2014.

- UNESCO Visitor Program on Municipal Water Resource Management for young specialists, France, USA, June 2015.

- Training workshop for the experts of Central Asian States “Acquiring the knowledge and skills in the field of hydrology and hydrological forecasting” (October 2014, Saint-Petersburg, Russia)

- Participation in the operational training-and-practical workshop in the framework of program on the flash floods for hydrometeorologists (San-Diego, USA, February 2016)

- Cooperation with UNESCO-IHC Institute on the Water Education and/or international/regional water centres under UNESCO.

1.5 Publications

Publication in the Anniversary UNESCO IHP issue “Water, people and cooperation. 50 years of Water Programmes for Sustainable Development at UNESCO”. With the support of Uzhydromet and National Commission of UNESCO IHP the tutorial aids on the conduction of hydrological and hydrogeological works on observational network – “Hydrology and hydrogeology” for the students of Tashkent Institute of Irrigation were issued.

1.6 Participation in international scientific meetings

1.6.1. Meetings held in the country

21 meetings with participation of representatives of the National Commission of UNESCO IHP were held during period 2014-2016.

1.6.2 Participation in the meetings abroad

- Presentation of “Water quality in the main rivers of Republic of Uzbekistan” at the “Water quality in Europe” Regional Consultative meeting organized by UNESCO IHP (Coblenz, Germany, December 2015)

- Participation in the meeting of Intersectional working group on “Early warning and informing in the field of the risks related to the water resources of CA”, November 2014, Dushanbe, Tajikistan

- Summit on Water quality in the framework of GEO, April 2015, Geneve - Participation in “Application of satellite data for the solution of hydrometeorological

problems and environment monitoring” workshop on the improvement of qualification of the personnel of the National Hydrometeorological Services (NHMS) of CIS countries (June 2015, Moscow, Russia)

- Participation in WMO workshop on the systems of the early warning about natural disasters and relevant servicing in the framework of UN World Conference on the disaster risk reduction (March, 2015, Senae, Japan)

1.7 Other activities at regional level

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1.7.1 Institutional relations/cooperation The work of the members of the National Commission on the project of WMO Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS). Strengthening of institutional relations among hydrological services of the countries and users of hydrological and climate information. Cooperation with the Asian countries – “Study of hydrological cycle in the Asian countries” project (ACWC – Asian Countries Water Cycle). Cooperation with WMO: National Committee of UNESCO IHP actively cooperates with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in the framework of the Working Group on Hydrology of Regional Association RAII. The activities WMO Program on “Reduction of the threat of natural disasters” are carried out which allow to extend the capacities on the application of the new methods and up-to-date technologies on the application of the methods for the forecasting of occurrence and propagation of the disastrous hydrological processes threatening the territory of Uzbekistan. Cooperation with the World Bank: Program on the improvement of hydrological servicing of Central Asia States (CA) which foresees the realization of 7 basic projects which, with the other equal conditions will provide the forecasting and operational-and-production sub divisions of Central Asia National Hydrometeorological Stations (NHMS) in order to have an access to the new types of the high-quality primary hydrometeorological and satellite information and to the more complete forecasting production which takes the peculiar features of the region into account. Cooperation with Finland: “Support to modernization of hydrometeorological services of CA states” project is aimed at the improvement of NHMSs capacity in creating the vision and strategy of modernization of their services, and it will substantially increase the quality and level of NHMS services on the early warning (including also disastrous hydrological phenomena), as well as strengthening of regional cooperation. 1.7.2 Completed and ongoing scientific projects Cooperation with the World Bank – “Modernization of the National Hydrometeorological Services of Central Asia” project. Installation of hydrological equipment in the basins of the Amudarya and Syrdarya transboundary rivers. 2. FUTURE ACTIVITIES

2.1 Activities planned until December 2016 The cooperation with WMO on the preparation of the program and work plan for the publishing of hydrological bulletin of the Syrdarya River.

2.2 Activities foreseen for 2017-2018

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Partnership with the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea. Participation in projects on strengthening the capacity of hydrological services in the Aral Sea basins. Cooperation with the Regional Centre of Hydrology at the Executive Committee of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (EC IFAS).

2.3 Activities envisaged in the long term It is planned to develop cooperation and strengthening of the departmental relations at the national level with the related ministries and agencies, Academy of Sciences on the use of hydrological information and rendering support to the national and regional activities in the field of hydrology in the long term. Support to participation in training and education of students in hydrology.