TAJIKISTAN SUPPORTS PRESIDENT BUSH'S CLIMATE INITIATIVE

UNCLAS DUSHANBE 000855 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, OES E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL ENRG SENV TI SUBJECT: TAJIKISTAN SUPPORTS PRESIDENT BUSH'S CLIMATE INITIATIVE REF: STATE 75287 ¶1. Rustam Latipov, Tajikistan's Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Environmental Protection and the leading government official responsible for environmental issues, expressed support for President Bush's new international framework initiative on climate change. PolOff delivered points per reftel to Latipov June 7 and Latipov assured PolOff that the Tajik government would support President Bush's initiative. Latipov said that the government will draft a letter of support to be delivered through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ¶2. Backing the Tajik government's enthusiasm to develop a coal industry in Tajikistan, Latipov pointed out that deforestation is a big problem for Tajikistan. In a country desperate for energy and electricity, villagers are forced to cut down trees to heat their homes. In turn, fewer trees means that less carbon dioxide emissions can be absorbed. Latipov said that the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection will lobby the government to invest in clean coal technology and replant trees around the coal mining areas. ¶3. Latipov called melting glaciers the most significant climate change problem for Tajikistan. With little industry and cars per capita, Tajikistan lags far behind other countries in greenhouse gas emissions. However, climate change has affected the country's rural villages and threatens the pristine glaciers of the country's famed Pamir Mountains. According to media reports, the glaciers are receding at a rate of 20 meters per year and temperatures in the Pamirs have increased at one and a half degrees in the past ten years. Ilhomjon Rajabov, of Tajikistan's Agency for Hydrometeorology, stated in media reports that the country's ice cover will decrease by 20 percent by 2050. ¶4. Even though at this time, water may be abundant in Tajikistan, excess water poses severe threats. Floods create problems year after year, washing away homes, destroying agriculture and lives. Higher temperatures and melting ice also create landslides or mudslides which are not only destructive, but contaminate the water sources, carrying diseases straight to the people and livestock, the majority of whom do not have access to clean water. ¶5. At this point in time, Tajikistan has an abundance of water. However in the future, if temperatures continue to rise and the glaciers disappear, that means the water supply will diminish. Climate change in Tajikistan will also have a regional impact because Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan depend on the Pamir glaciers as a water source for drinking, irrigation and energy generation. HUSHEK