OSCE Seminar discusses environmental and health risks from industries in Ferghana valley

CORTONA, ITALY, 8 April 2005 - Ways of evaluating the environmental and health risks from industrial installations in the Ferghana Valley were discussed at a seminar that ended today in Cortona.

The five-day event, organized by the OSCE, assessed the situation around several hazardous industrial sites including a pesticides dump, two chemical factories and an oil refinery. The sites were identified during a technical mission to the Ferghana valley in December 2004 and meetings with local authorities.

All identified sites, which are close to state borders and transboundary rivers, pose a risk to local residents.

The seminar brought together government representatives and technical experts from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan who will work together in the coming months using a state of the art methodology developed by ICARO, an Italian consultancy company with large experience in the field of risk assessment. It allows to rapidly identify possible hazards, assess risks and prepare emergency plans for industrial installations.

The project falls under the framework of the Environment and Security Initiative (ENVSEC) of three organizations: the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is an associate partner.

The ENVSEC Initiative aims at increasing co-operation and security within and between communities by assessing and addressing the interdependency of natural environment and human security. It seeks to identify environmental problems posing security risks and offering challenges or opportunities for co-operation in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Southern Caucasus.

Following the seminar, an Office for local technical support will be set up in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. This will collect data to feed the Geographic Information System model in order to simulate the effects of industrial accidents and help prevent their consequences.

Seminar participants agreed that environmental matters can cause tensions among communities, and that technical co-operation is an effective means of preventing their escalation.

"Projects like this one show the progress of the ENVSEC initiative launched in 2002," said Raul Daussa, Associate Programme Manager at the Office of the OSCE Co-ordinator for Economic and Environmental Activities in Vienna.