OSCE supports summer school in Kazakhstan for water and land resources management

An OSCE-supported summer school session on methods and tools for the assessment and monitoring of Central Asian water and land resources concluded on 17 June 2016 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The two-week programme was organized by the Kazakh-German University in co-operation with the OSCE Programme Office in Astana for the third consecutive year. It brought together 24 master and PhD students as well as junior university teachers and researchers from Germany, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan with the aim to deepen the knowledge in the area of geo-scientific tools for integrated water and land resources management and its practical implementation.

The session utilized a roundtable format to combine theoretical lectures and practical exercises with discussion sessions on the implementation of new methods and tools in managing water and land resources.

Teachers presented best practices and practical exercises in the use of Geographic Information Systems, Web mapping, remote sensing, glacier monitoring, climate change data analysis and discharge measurements.

The Programme Office presented the OSCE’s priorities and activities in the field of water governance and held a practical exercise on the topic of conflict prevention and resolution in the context of transboundary water management. During the exercise the participants identified ways to handle transboundary water disputes by utilizing international standards and binding legal instruments.

This event aims to enhance regional co-operation in the water management sector and falls in line with the 2003 Maastricht Ministerial Council decision on the OSCE Strategy Document for Economic and Environmental Dimension which emphasizes the importance of water diplomacy.