Global Environmental group, FAO launch Asia water, land management
By Samuel Ogunsona
The Global Environment Facility and FAO will launch a new regional programme to strengthen cooperation on land and water management across Central Asia and support sustainable livelihoods.
This was contained in a press release made available to Irohinodua on Tuesday.
The high-level roundtable takes place on 4 June 2026 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, during the GEF Assembly. Ministers from five Central Asian countries will join FAO and GEF leaders to advance joint action on the Amu Darya and Syr Darya basins.
“The roundtable will focus on integrated management of land and water resources across Central Asia”. Statement reads
The region where more than 80 percent of the land consists of deserts and steppes and about 60 percent of people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Organizers say growing pressures from land degradation, water scarcity, biodiversity loss and climate change make coordinated action across borders more urgent.
The Central Asia Water-Land Nexus programme aims to strengthen cooperation among countries that share the Amu Darya and Syr Darya river basins.
Its objectives include improving governance frameworks, upgrading data and decision-making systems, and promoting sustainable practices for managing land and water.
The discussions will center on “nexus” approaches that treat land, water, biodiversity and climate as connected systems, with an emphasis on joint action across sectors and national boundaries.
Ministers and senior officials from Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are expected to take part in a ministerial panel. High-level participants also include senior representatives from FAO, the GEF, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment.
The event will include a presentation of the CAWLN programme and an official launch ceremony.
