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DE RUEHEK #0396/01 1170535
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 270535Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BISHKEK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2123
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
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RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0270
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
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RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
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RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEHAST/USOFFICE ALMATY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BISHKEK 000396 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EEB, OES/PCI (PHUDAK, NFITE) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EPET ECON SENV KG
SUBJECT:  KYRGYZSTAN:  BISHKEK HOSTS ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY 
CONFERENCE 
 
BISHKEK 00000396  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Six agencies from the UN, Europe, and NATO have 
joined together to form the Environmental and Security Initiative 
(ENVSEC), which has 33 projects in Central Asia.  The stated goal of 
ENVSEC is to assist Central Asian countries to address environmental 
and security risks.  Any environmental degradation has the potential 
to lead to conflict.  The challenge for ENVSEC is to turn 
theoretical knowledge into actual cooperation between states and 
projects.  ENVSEC projects fall into four broad categories: 
dialogue and cooperation, reducing risk from hazardous practices, 
increasing resilience to climate change, and raising awareness. 
Local government representatives expressed concern that ENVSEC would 
independently adopt projects without consulting or even informing 
each country's "national coordinator" for environmental policy.  One 
break-out discussion group resulted in NGO recrimination against a 
Kyrgyz government official.  The discussion consensus is that the 
four project clusters are adequate for now but that each country 
wanted to reserve the right to change or modify them if its 
situation changes.  The 33 ENVSEC projects in Central Asia include 
dam safety trans-boundary cooperation in the Ferghana Valley, 
radioactive waste management, climate change adaptation, and 
promoting the Aarhus Convention.  NATO is very active in ENVSEC in 
Central Asia, and its projects include microbiological safety of 
drinking water, integrated water resource management for wetlands 
restoration, and geo-environmental security of the Toktogul 
hydroelectric power station region.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Six Donors Join to Form ENVSEC 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (U) During the April 24 Environmental and Security Initiative 
(ENVSEC) Conference in Bishkek, Regional Environmental Officer (REO) 
and Environmental and Scientific Specialist learned that ENVSEC has 
33 projects in Central Asia in four general target areas designed to 
address various aspects of environmental security in the region. 
Six agencies have joined together to create ENVSEC:  the UN 
Development Program (UNDP), the UN Environmental Program (UNEP), the 
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the 
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the North 
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the Regional Environment 
Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC).  The stated goal of 
ENVSEC is to assist Central Asian countries to address environmental 
and security risks as well as to promote environmental protection 
and trans-boundary cooperation in support of democratic governance, 
sustainable development, and poverty reduction.  These agencies 
offer their combined pool of expertise and resources to address 
political, economic, and social concerns that involve the link 
between the natural environment and human security.  As UNECE/ENVSEC 
Chair Marco Keiner said, in addition, another goal is to increase 
ENVSEC's visibility among donors and improve its overall fundraising 
ability. 
 
ENVSEC Ambitions 
---------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Keiner said ENVSEC's long-term strategy is to strengthen 
regional mechanisms and capacity for effective environmental and 
resource management; improve understanding and knowledge of 
industrial and radioactive waste sites in order to develop effective 
remediation activities; raise the capacity of governments to prevent 
and manage trans-boundary risks from industrial and hazardous 
"hotspots"; increase national and regional capacity to address 
climate change risks; increase dialogue and partnership between 
government and civil society organizations on environmental and 
security issues; and increase civil society and government access to 
information on environmental issues. 
 
ENVSEC Status in Central Asia 
----------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) UNDP Regional Center ENVSEC Coordinator Ajiniyaz Reimov noted 
that the connection between the environment and security is 
"patently obvious" to all those who work in this area.  He stressed 
that any environmental degradation has the potential to lead to 
 
BISHKEK 00000396  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
conflict, and all military conflicts create environmental 
degradation in their wake.  The challenge for ENVSEC is to take the 
vast treasure of theoretical knowledge about the environment and 
transform it into actual cooperation between states and projects 
that ENVSEC can implement.  In this regard, ENVSEC is a pioneer, 
Reimov said.  UNDP serves as the ENVSEC coordinator in Central 
Asia. 
 
Outline of ENVSEC Projects 
-------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) At the Bishkek Conference, ENVSEC reviewed the existing 
projects, grouped under four broad categories, or "clusters": 
dialogue and cooperation on shared resources; reduction of risk to 
security and stability from hazardous practices; increased 
resilience to security impacts of climate change; and raising 
awareness and strengthening capacities and participatory mechanisms 
on environmental and security issues.  The third cluster was 
recently added and was somewhat controversial, Reimov said, because 
many did not want to get "too close" to climate change as an issue 
out of fear that politics would derail it.  He said ENVSEC was 
initially concerned about including climate change as one of its 
"clusters" because of the potential for conflict between countries 
over scarce resources and also because of the "politicization" of 
climate change itself.  Now that the political "climate" has changed 
(and Reimov did not elaborate on the reasons for this), ENVSEC has 
now included climate change as one of its "clusters."  All future 
projects will have to fall under one of these groupings in order for 
ENVSEC to accept them. 
 
Concern that ENVSEC Will Ignore "National Coordinators" 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶6. (U) During the conference, Tajikistan's First Deputy Minister of 
Energy and Industry Makhmadsharif Khakdodov expressed his concern 
that ENVSEC would independently adopt projects without consulting or 
even informing each country's "national coordinator" for 
environmental policy.  Kyrgyzstan's State Agency on Environmental 
Protection and Forestry Director Arstanbek Davletkeldiev and 
Kazakhstan's Ministry of Environmental Protection Legal Policy and 
International Cooperation Director Aleksandr Bragin also supported 
this concern and wanted to ensure that ENVSEC would not "blindside" 
their countries with projects that did not fully conform to each 
country's own national priorities.  Reimov assured them that ENVSEC 
will not undertake any project without full coordination with each 
country's own national plans. 
 
Breakout Discussion Groups 
-------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) The delegates broke into three separate discussion groups to 
focus on keeping or amending the four project "clusters" and discuss 
any additional projects that ENVSEC should undertake in the future. 
REO and Embassy Tashkent's Environmental Specialist were in a group 
with government officials and NGO representatives, and the Kyrgyz 
ENVSEC Chair Davletkeldiev asked the Environmental Specialist to 
lead the discussion because, according to him, "the United States is 
a non-partisan, neutral observer to the Conference and can best 
serve as an impartial moderator for this discussion."  This group 
made the following suggestions: 
 
-- All riparian states should work together to address the negative 
impacts on health caused by trans-boundary environmental conditions 
-- for example, the Kyrgyz Republic needs other countries' help to 
upgrade and improve wastewater treatment plants in the Mailuu-Suu 
region in Kyrgyzstan that has uranium and other hazardous tailings; 
 
-- Include health related projects that would address trans-boundary 
health problems such as typhoid, malaria, and other water-borne 
diseases; 
 
-- Invite international health organizations such as the World 
Health Organization and Global Fund to participate in the ENVSEC 
 
BISHKEK 00000396  003.4 OF 004 
 
 
Initiative as partners; and 
 
-- Some international environmental conventions, such as the Espoo 
Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment, to which Kyrgyzstan 
is a party, restrict and limit the development of its energy and 
other sectors, and these conventions need to be adopted with 
reservations that correspond to the specific cases and realities of 
Central Asia. 
 
¶8. (U) Each group then presented its results before the ENVSEC body, 
reaching a consensus that the four project clusters are adequate for 
now but that each country wants to reserve the right to change or 
modify them if its situation changes.  ENVSEC also recorded the 
various recommendations for additional projects that should be 
included in the future. 
 
ENVSEC Projects 
--------------- 
 
¶9. (U) Listed below are six of the 33 projects that ENVSEC has 
underway or is planning to carry out: 
 
-- Dam safety in Central Asia (UNECE), ongoing, all Central Asian 
countries; 
 
-- Transboundary cooperation of communities in the Ferghana Valley 
(UNDP), ongoing, Tajikistan; 
 
-- Radioactive waste management in a trans-boundary context (UNDP), 
planned, all Central Asian countries except Turkmenistan; 
 
-- Assistance to Central Asian countries to implement the Convention 
on the Trans-boundary Effects of Industrial Accidents (UNECE, UNEP) 
ongoing, all Central Asian countries except Turkmenistan; 
 
-- Risk reduction and climate change adaptation in Central Asia 
(UNDP, UNEP), planned, all Central Asian countries; and 
 
-- Promotion of the Aarhus Convention in Central Asia (OSCE), 
ongoing, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.  (NOTE: The UNECE 
Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in 
Decision-Making, and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, is 
better known as the Aarhus Convention.  There is an Aarhus Center in 
Khujand, Tajikistan.  END NOTE.) 
 
NATO Active in ENVSEC in Central Asia 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (U) NATO is quite active in Central Asia and has several ENVSEC 
projects that it is implementing: 
 
-- Microbiological safety of drinking water (NATO), ongoing, 
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan; 
 
-- Integrated water resource management for wetlands restoration in 
the North Aral Sea basin (NATO), completed, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan; 
 
-- Geo-environmental security of the Toktogul hydroelectric power 
station region (NATO), planned, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan; 
 
-- Legacy of uranium extraction and environmental security in the 
Central Asian republics (NATO), completed, all Central Asian 
countries except Turkmenistan; 
 
-- Trans-boundary risks on the Kanibadam hazardous waste site in 
Ferghana Valley (NATO, UNEP, UNDP), planned, Tajikistan; 
 
-- Study on radioactive waste disposal sites in Turkmenistan (NATO), 
ongoing, Turkmenistan; 
 
-- Biotechnological exploitation of Uzbek saline water reserves 
using halotolerant microalgae (NATO), ongoing, Uzbekistan (NOTE: 
This project is designed to help local residents who have lost their 
 
BISHKEK 00000396  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
livelihood because of the drying up of the Aral Sea to sell this 
algae, growing as a result of over-salinated water from chemical and 
fertilizer runoff.  END NOTE); and 
 
-- Using stable isotopes, passive organic samplers, and modeling to 
assess environmental security in Khorezm, Uzbekistan (NATO), 
ongoing, Uzbekistan (NOTE: this project assesses the potential for 
using irrigational water runoff for other kinds of livelihoods.  END 
NOTE). 
 
GFOELLER