OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan supports opening of Centre for Public Environmental Awareness

An Information Resource Centre for Public Environmental Awareness and Culture and Improving People’s Ecological Knowledge was opened by the Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan, with the support of the Group of Ecological Movement Deputies within the Legislative House of Uzbekistan’s parliament, the Oliy Majlis, and the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan, on 17 July 2018 in Tashkent.

The Centre, which is the second of its kind in Uzbekistan, aims to promote the right of access to information, public information sharing and transparency in environmental issues. Similar to Aarhus Centres, of which the OSCE supports 60 in 14 different countries, the Centre will promote dialogue and consultation in the field of environmental governance and offer a platform to engage all relevant stakeholders, including civil society and individual citizens.

“Better environmental security improves people’s lives, but environmental initiatives can only be truly effective through broad engagement, which is why this Centre is so important,” said the OSCE Project Co-ordinator Ambassador John MacGregor in his opening speech. “With the Centre we have built another part of the foundation on which Uzbekistan’s environmental future will be built.”

The Centre aims at increasing citizens’ knowledge of local environmental issues in order to enhance their sense of ownership of these issues and counter potential tensions stemming from ecological problems within communities.

Overcoming environmental challenges and increasing the country’s sustainability are both addressed in Uzbekistan’s Five-Area Development Strategy for 2017-2021, which entered into effect by a decree from President Shavkat Mirziyoev last year.  The OSCE Project Co-ordinator supports these efforts through its work with the Ecological Movement, which is one of its closest partners.