DUSHANBE, March 7, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- The Environmental Education Resource Center at the Committee for Environmental Protection today hosted a discussion forum dedicated to the new draft of the National Program on Environmental Education for the period of 2013 – 2020.

The meeting participants included representatives of public institutions and local non-governmental organizations.

The draft of the National Program on Environmental Education for 2013 – 2020 is being developed on an initiative of the Committee for Environmental Protection under the Government of Tajikistan under financial and technical support of UNDP Tajikistan.

Development of the draft program is an important event both for the national education system and sphere of the environmental protection, due to its fundamental mission of a key document for establishment and functions of a national environmental education and learning infrastructure.

According to UNDP Tajikistan, this initiative fits into the goal and objectives of the UNDP/GEF project “Tajikistan Environmental Learning and Stakeholder Involvement as Tools for Global Environmental Benefits and Poverty Reduction”.  It is expected that on the basis of the National Program, an action plan with thematic direction on environmental education in all national economy sectors will be developed to ensure regular and complex education and learning on environment protection as well as on sustainable use of the natural resources.

In the working process participants comprised of the representatives from the Parliamentarian Environmental Commission, Ministry of Education and other stakeholders.

A talking point was made by Mr. Talbak Salimov, Chairman of the Committee on the Environmental Protection, who briefed participants on assessment of the previous National Program, necessity of a new revised document as well as further intentions to finalize and submit the final draft of the program to the Government of Tajikistan for review and adoption.

Furthermore, Mr. Mirzohaydar Isoyev, representative of UNDP Energy and Environment Program, welcomed all participants and mentioned about UNDP’s contribution in the field of sustainable natural resources management and creation of a favorable conditions for harmonization of legislation.  In particular, it has been noted that the given initiative allows to ensure wide participation of all civil society sectors in the development process of a strategically important document and thereby to contribute in achievement of sustainable development in Tajikistan.

A very active discussion facilitated by the participants led to brainstorming of the content and structure of the new draft of the program as well as further steps to be undertaken for further revision and submission of the document to the Government of Tajikistan.

At the end of the forum, representatives of the Committee for Environmental Protection, Parliament and UNDP highly appreciated the members of the inter-ministerial working group and all participants for their contribution and interest in the development of the program.

The Energy and Environment program is one of the newly established structures within UNDP Tajikistan aimed to contribute towards reduction of widespread poverty in Tajikistan by: promotion of income-generating end-use applications of renewable energy sources, ensuring sustainable natural resource management, and educating and involving diverse national and local stakeholders in addressing environmental issues within the country.