April 26, 2017 in the conference hall of the Issyk-Kul Territorial Administration SAEPF held a round table on “The Preservation of Issyk-Kul Lake – the Basis of Welfare of the Population of the Region” with the participation of representatives of SAEPF, SIETS, NGOs, foundations, alliances and other NGOs in the region. The organizers of the event were the Aarhus Center in Bishkek, in cooperation with the OSCE Center in Bishkek and the KGZ-Water / Issyk-Kul Project, implemented jointly with the SAEPF with the financial support of the FinWater WEI Institute (Government of Finland). The main tasks of the round table were to discuss the preservation of the Issyk-Kul Lake, raise the issues of its ecological status and prepare proposals to state structures to take care of one of their beautiful lakes in Kyrgyzstan.

The deputy director of the SAEPF A. Ryspekov, the representative of the OSCE Center in Bishkek E.Paiziev and the manager of the project “KGZ – Water / Issyk-Kul” Ari Mäkelä took part in round table.

In their speeches, they focused on problems in environmental protection in the region, raise attention of environmental services and public in taking the necessary measures to prevent contamination of the lake. Representative of the SAEPF presented information on environmental activities in the region.

The head of the Aarhus Center in Bishkek A.Nurbekov presented his presentation on the topic “Public Participation in Implementing Environmental Issues Based on the Aarhus Convention”. Project manager Ari Mäkelä made presentation on topic: “The main monitoring tasks within the framework of the project “KGZ-Water / Issyk “Kul”, implemented with the support of the Government of Finland “. Head of PF “Clean Issyk-Kul” A. Shamsutdinov  told about the activities of PF. Head of the Issyk-Kul regional development center and the education of the population Koshekova K.T. told about “Experience of the Issyk-Kul regional center for development and education of the population”. Executive director M. Mukambetov of Association of Legal Entities of told about activities that made by allince in region.

During the discussion on the part of the participants, suggestions were made on the need to tighten the NLA for environmental violators, especially in relation to poachers. The effectiveness of one-time measures to clean the lake’s coastal zone from domestic garbage and to consider the possibility of mechanized cleaning using advanced technologies as in developed countries were discussed. Individual representatives of public organizations made proposals on joint work in monitoring Issyk-Kul Lake, carrying out various environmental measures and informing the population about the ecological dependence of the region on the economic activity of a person.

In the afternoon, an official ceremony of transfering the motor boat to the SAEPF balance acquired under the KGZ-Water / Issyk-Kul project. This boat is designed to optimize the process of environmental monitoring and data collection on the ecological condition of the Issyk-Kul lake. Today this is an important aspect necessary for the proper development of the tourism sector, oriented not only to economic development, but also to social aspects, including the preservation of such a unique natural of Issyk-Kul lake. In this regard, optimization of the environmental monitoring system is one of the priority tasks of environmental protection.