TURKMENISTAN: DESERT INSTITUTE OPEN TO SCIENTIFIC

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 001669

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN; OES (MICHAEL SCHENA)
ASTANA FOR BRUCE HUDSPETH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/29/2019
TAGS: EAID OSCI SENV TSPL PREL PGOV UN TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: DESERT INSTITUTE OPEN TO SCIENTIFIC
COLLABORATION

REF: A. STATE 71325

B. ASHGABAT 1581

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sylvia Reed Curran. Reasons 1.4 (B) a
nd (D).


1. (SBU) Poloff on December 29 met with the director of the
Turkmenistan National Institute of Deserts, Flora, and Fauna,
one of his deputies, and a deputy minister of the
Turkmenistan Ministry of Nature Protection to discuss
possible future joint projects that might fulfill the goals
of President Obama's Cairo initiative (ref A). Dr. Paltamet
Esenov, the Desert Institute director, said that his
Institute had many ideas for new projects, but lacked
funding. His Institute has, in the past, worked with a
variety of international organizations to implement projects,
including the Embassy, the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP),the International Monetary Fund (IMF),and the
University of Nevada at Reno. Institute officials showed
Poloff some of their most important publications, including
country studies on biodiversity and environmental protection
and the Red Book of endangered flora and fauna, which are
published with UNDP and IMF support.


2. (SBU) Dr. Esenov mentioned that one project he would like
to resume, if the Institute had sufficient funding, would be
the publication in English of their journal, "Problems of
Desert Development." This journal has been published since
1967 in Russian, and until about 10 years ago, was translated
into English and published by a company in New York City.
Esenov added that until 2000 they published six issues of the
journal a year, but since then have only had the funding to
publish four. He noted that the Desert Institute had
submitted grant proposals for the translation and
distribution of the journal in English, but so far had no
luck receiving a grant. Esenov mentioned that another
possibility for distribution would be to put the English
language version on the Academy of Sciences or the Ministry
of Nature Protection website. He implied that they would
need some computer assistance to accomplish that.


3. (SBU) The Desert Institute falls under the auspices of the
Ministry of Nature Protection and has a very broad mandate.
It is responsible for not only research about desert
environments, but also for the protection of endangered
plants and animals and for nature preserves. The Desert
Institute is currently contributing to a Ministry of Nature
Protection initiative to create a national park system (ref
B). The German Technical Cooperation organization (GTZ) is
helping the Institute with a review of national park
legislation from other countries, among other things.


4. (C) COMMENT: Dr. Esenov and his deputy said they had a
lot of additional ideas about areas for cooperation, without
elaborating, and were clearly very involved in the
Institute's work. Post will continue to engage with these
officials to uncover these additional ideas. The deputy
minister from the Ministry of Nature Protection, on the other
hand, said very little, except to note that he supported the
Desert Institute's ideas and work. The Desert Institute
appears to be an ideal partner for any future projects in the
realm of environmental science, especially since it already
has experience working with the U.S. Government and U.S.
universities. The Ministry of Nature Protection could
probably be more difficult to work with directly, in part
because a new minister with little background in nature
protection was appointed in October. The previous minister,
was an expert in the field and very well disposed towards the
United States. END COMMENT.
CURRAN