OSCE, partners launch project to fight climate change effects in Dniester/Nistru basin

CHISINAU, 10 July 2013 – Developing a climate-change adaptation strategy for the Dniester/Nistru basin and a joint response action plan for governments of Moldova and Ukraine are the focus of a new joint three-year project officially launched today at an event in Chisinau.

The project, which aims to increase the ability of the countries sharing the Dniester/Nistru river basin to adapt through better transboundary co-operation, will be implemented by the OSCE and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) as part of the international Environment and Security Initiative (ENVSEC).

The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, Ambassador Madina Jarbussynova, expressed hope at the opening ceremony that an “established teamwork of governments will make communities living across the Dniester/Nistru river basin more resilient to the negative impacts of climate change and extreme weather events”.

The project follows up ENVSEC actions from 2010 to 2012, which resulted in the development of models for flooding along the Dniester/Nistru and an overall assessment of the basin’s vulnerability to climate change. A study carried out within the project predicts that the Dniester/Nistru river will be affected by climate change leading to a temperature rise by 2050, and changes in precipitation leading to drier summers with less flow, but also more frequent and heavier rains in the basin.

“Flooding is a major transboundary problem for the Dniester/Nistru; heavy floods in 2008 led to quite a number of casualties and major financial losses,” said Ambassador Jennifer Brush, Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova. “Flooding also has a cascading effect on the population of the basin and sectors such as agriculture, energy, recreation and fisheries, as well as the environment”.

The launch event was followed by a project steering group meeting that included representatives from the environment ministries, water agencies and other relevant authorities of Moldova and Ukraine, local authorities and water users, the secretariat of the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, OSCE, the UN Development Program and ENVSEC and international experts.

The project “Climate Change and Security in the Dniester/Nistru River Basin” is carried out in partnership with the European Commission Instrument for Stability (EC/IfS) and the Austrian Development Agency. It is also a part of the EC/IfS project “Climate Change and Security in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Southern Caucasus” and is one of the components in the UNECE Water Convention’s programme of pilot projects.

For furrther information please contact: Hanna Plotnykova, National Project Officer, OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, Tel.: +38 (044) 492 0382, Mob.: +38 (050) 416 4878, E-mail: hanna.plotnykova@osce.org