DUSHANBE, 03.02.2021 (NIAT Khovar) – A little over 25 million somoni has been allocated to implement the State Program for the Study and Preservation of Glaciers in Tajikistan for 2010-2030. This was announced yesterday at a press conference by the Chairman of the Committee for Environmental Protection Bahodur Sheralizoda.

He noted that as part of this program, the Glacier Research Center was established in 2014, which is now fully operational. The center’s specialists have planned a number of activities, in particular, the study of the Fedchenko glacier and other large glaciers in the country.

According to Sheralizoda, Tajikistan joined the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) last year. At present, the exact number of glaciers is being counted and their condition is being studied. In 2019 and 2020, more than 20 glacier expeditions were conducted for this purpose.

Earlier it was reported that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide Tajikistan with a grant in the amount of $10 million for a project to study glaciers. The grant is being allocated as part of a national project on natural disaster risk management.

As soon as glaciers are counted and their condition is determined, the Glacier Research Center of the National Academy of Sciences will publish 12 volumes of cataloges on glaciers.

There are more than 8,000 glaciers, which occupy about 8% of the total area of the country. They contain about 550 cubic meters km of fresh water and they are the source of almost half of the flow of rivers in Tajikistan. Tajikistan is a large center of modern glaciation in Central Asia, and the glaciers located here are not only water reservoirs, but also regulators of river flow and climate.

According to the latest data, of the 14,000 glaciers in Tajikistan, which are of vital importance for the entire region, more than 1,000 glaciers have disappeared over the past 30 years.