From September 19 to September 20 of current year, in the pension “Karven four seasons” in the village Chon-Sary-Oi of the Issyk Kul region the annual meeting of Aarhus Centers of Europe, Transcaucasia and Central Asia with the assistance of the OSCE Office in Bishkek was conducted. The representatives of all Aarhus Centers operating in these regions arrived in Kyrgyzstan. Representatives of the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna, the secretariat of the Aarhus Convention from Geneva, local international institutions (UNDP, EU, EBRD, Finnish Water Institute, Kazakh-German University, Internews) also attended the meeting. In addition representatives of the ministries of environmental protection and environmental organizations of the countries of the region attended the meeting. The Deputy Director of the State Agency for Environmental Protection and Forestry (SAEPF) under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic A. Ryspekov, chief specialists of the SAEPF N.Baidakova and B.Omurova, akim of the Issyk-Kul District State Administration D.Imanaliev, representatives of the media worked during the meeting. The ambassador Pierre fon Ars, employment and consultant, on behalf of Program Office OSCE took part on discussions. The total quality is under 80 people.

The program was very intense and had a special flavor of conduction this event, as this meeting was the first time conducted outside the Europe. After the arrival of the majority of the participants, an introductory visit to the cultural center “Rukh Ordo” was organized, where our guests got acquainted with the history and diversity of the life of Kyrgyzstan.

On September 19 till the lunch time of September 20 the meeting was held, during which were sessions :

• Celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Aarhus Convention – a model of environmental democracy;
• Increase of the stakeholder participation in monitoring hazardous waste management through capacity building and raising awareness in key areas;
• Strengthen the capacity for disaster risk reduction and climate change, and implementation of activities at the community level;
• Increase public participation in the rational use of water resources;
• Facilitation the transition of the green economy and the efficient use of resources at the local level;
• Discussion on sustainable activities of Aarhus Centers and resource mobilization;
• Facilitation the transition of the green economy and the efficient use of resources at the local level;
• Discussion on sustainable activities of Aarhus Centers and resource mobilization
• Discussion of issues on sustainable activities of the Aarhus Centers and resource mobilization.

All topics were of great importance and the discussion passed in excess of the established time frame. Each of the speakers, and there were 5 representatives of Aarhus Centers of different countries at each session, shared their experience in the proposed topics and gave their recommendations on the successful implementation of the tasks.

Furthermore, in the second half of September 20, a field visit was organized by the Issyk-Kul Aarhus Center, which included a subbotnik on the shores of Issyk-Kul Lake and a study of the cleaning of the diver’s enthusiasts’ voluntary movement “Pure Issyk-Kul”.

Following the event, all the participants attended the awards ceremony for the winners of the “Take care of Issyk-Kul – the Pearl of Kyrgyzstan” contest, which was organized by the Issyk-Kul Aarhus Center in conjunction with the Issyk-Kul District State Administration under financial support of the OSCE Office in Bishkek. The contest was held from June 5 to September 5 of the current year in 4 nominations: the cleanest ayyp okmotu; the cleanest beach area; the greenest guesthouse or guest house; accessible modern technologies in solving environmental problems.

At the end of the day a trip-sailing was organized on the Moltur motor ship, which showed the method of taking water to study the composition and condition for a certain day. Such testimony is taken by the laboratory of the Issyk-Kul territorial department of the SAEPF for research purposes. This trip was organized by the project “KG / Water / Issyk-Kul”, which cooperates with the Issyk Kul SAEPF during the project.

At the completion of the event the participants expressed their gratitude to all the organizers of the meeting of the Aarhus Centers and the wishes for the implementation of further successful projects.