The regional conference on “Economic assessment of land degradation” opens in Ashgabat on August 1. Turkmen and foreign scientists, specialists of various ministries and departments, representatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia, the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ) , and other international ogranisations and specialized agencies will take part in the conference organized by the Ministry of Nature Protection of Turkmenistan jointly with the Secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.

The conference agenda will focus on the practical implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, an important international document, which was ratified by 200 countries, including Turkmenistan.

Within the framework of the two-day forum, conference participants will discuss the world experience in combatting land degradation, and the outcomes of a number of international projects aimed at restoration and protection of natural resources. Moreover, forum participants will also get acquainted with modern methods of the economic assessment of the nature protection work, and will specify the national priorities and key areas of the further cooperation within the framework of the “Central Asian Countries Initiative for Land Management” Programme.