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About International Fund for saving the Aral Sea

Longstanding cultural, economic ties and territories with the similar environments consolidate Central Asian states. The area is shaped by highest mountain ridges of Pamirs and Tien Shan, vast deserts and steppes, and large Asian Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya rivers, inland lakes as Caspian and Aral Seas.

From 1960 to 1990 large-scale programmes on land developing were implemented in the Aral Sea Basin. The result of the implementation of these programmes was twice increase of both irrigated areas and draw off discharge.  Consequently, water flow into the Aral Sea decreased and in 2002 water-level lowered more than 21 meters. At the same time water-surface area was shrunk more than three times.

Annual negative profits in the region is around some billion dollars on account of changes of climate, hydro chemical characteristics of water bodies, reducing of fishing in The Aral Sea, degradation of more that 4 million hectares of land and deterioration of biodiversity.

The consequences affected more than 5 million people living in Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya river deltas. Declination of living standards and worsening of state of health was observed.  First victims of environmental crisis were the most vulnerable groups of population such as children, women, needy population of the Aral Sea area. 

To overcome the ecological crisis and to improve the socio-economic situation in the Aral Sea basin is recognized by world community to be one of the greatest catastrophes of the XX century, the Heads of the Central Asia Governments in year 1993 created The International Fund for saving the Aral Sea (IFAS).

• financing and crediting of joint interstate ecological and scientific - practical programmes and projects aimed at the Aral sea saving and the recovery of the ecological situation in the districts subject to the Aral sea disaster, and also the solution of the general socio — ecological problems of the region;

• financing of the joint fundamental and applied researches, scientific - technical developments on the rehabilitation of ecological balance, rational natural resources use and environment protection;

• creation and maintaining of the functioning of the interstate ecological system of monitoring, database and other systems on the conditions of the Aral sea environment;

• mobilisation of funds for joint measures on the air basin, water and land resources, flora and fauna protection;

• financing of joint scientific - technical projects and developments on transboundary water resources management;

• participation in the implementation of international programmes and projects on Aral sea saving and Aral sea basin ecological recovery.

The International Fund for saving the Aral Sea carries out the activity on the basis of Council of the Heads of states decisions, IFAS Board, IFAS Regulation, Agreements on the status of the International Fund for saving the Aral Sea and its organizations, etc.

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Contact us:

Tel:   (992372) 23 58 36

Fax:   (992372) 23 58 40

Address:  40, Rudaki ave, Dushanbe city, Tajikistan  734000

E-mail:   ecifas@tajik.net

Web Master: ecifas@tajik.net