The Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (Aics) and the Water system management company (Sogesid) signed a document, which will pave the way for realization of project of Aral sea rehabilitation.
The declaration of intent for the “definition of an operational and functional model for environmental remediation and regeneration interventions in contaminated areas” was inked on 29 May 2024 in Rome, on the sidelines of the Italy-Central Asia Conference, Agenzia Nova reports.
The Initiative will involve Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and is based on waters and soils contaminated as a result of anthropic activities, with the aim of recovering terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, reclaiming soils and restoring stands, with a view to preserve biodiversity and food chains.
“The Italian Agency for Development Cooperation pursues its action by orienting its interventions towards environmental sustainability, in response to climate change and the needs for environmental protection, depollution of water and soil, the rehabilitation and regeneration of the components , organic and inorganic, of the Biosphere. Sogesid, a wholly owned state company, boasts consolidated experience in technical-specialist support to central and local administrations, as well as at an international level, through planning and management of complex environmental initiatives, including the remediation of polluted sites, the protection of the soil and the management of hydrogeological risk”, AICS said in a press release.
The initiative took shape with the last Italian presidency of the EU–Central Asia high-level conference on environment and water, which set the objective, among others, of contributing to the green transition as well as to achieving the region’s environmental sustainability objectives, with an inclusive approach also towards institutional actors and civil society.
“The environmental problems that have been plaguing the Aral Sea lake basin for decades now have become part of the geographical and scientific literature of the so-called environmental and climate crisis, which, on a global level, the entire human community faces and to which it must give concrete answers”, said the director of AICS, Marco Riccardo Rusconi.
“With this signature, the Italian development cooperation system offers its technical-operational contribution in a cross-border area, in which the impact of the effects of climate change must be managed transversally”, he added.
“Cooperation at an international level represents a key tool in combating the effects of climate change and for the protection of the most fragile and exposed ecosystems such as the Aral Sea basin,” stressed Errico Stravato CEO of Sogesid.
“As Sogesid, we are proud to be part of this ambitious project and to systematize the experience and specialist skills of our technicians to work together with all the actors involved on the integrated environmental regeneration of such an important site. In this regard, a fundamental aspect will be to guarantee the protection and correct management of a crucial resource for the entire area such as water, with the aim of avoiding the risk of desertification and restoring contaminated areas with a view to present and future sustainability of the entire basin”, he emphasized. ///nCa, 30 May 2024