ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 9 November 2012 – Sharing experience and best practices in integrated water resource management in Central Asia is the focus of an OSCE-supported seminar which began in Almaty today.

The seminar brought together some 60 representatives of Central Asian national water authorities, non-governmental organizations, international organizations and academia. Participants discussed legal and practical aspects of the ways water and its use is governed in their countries. They also developed proposals for closer co-operation between the authorities and civil society of countries sharing transboundary water resources.

“Integrated water resource management is a cross-sector policy instrument which can help to successfully meet modern sustainable development requirements, enhance public participation in environmental governance and strengthen environmental security in the region,” said Jeannette Kloetzer, the Deputy Head of the OSCE Centre in Astana.

The event was organized by the Kazakh-German University, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the United Nations Development Programme, and the German Society for International Cooperation with the support of the Office of the OSCE Coordinator for Economic and Environmental Activities and the OSCE Centres in Dushanbe and Astana.

The seminar is in line with the OSCE’s 2003 Maastricht Strategy which advocates for transboundary dialogue and good governance in water-related issues.