DUSHANBE, 03.03.2021 (NIAT Khovar) – Today, while delivering his speech at the first online meeting of the high-level Panel on Water and Climate, President Emomali Rahmon proposed to declare 2025 the International Year of Glacier Protection and set the date for World Glacier Day.

“If in the sixties water supply per capita in Central Asia was more than 8,000 cubic meters per year, today this figure has decreased more than four times and is a little more than 2,000 cubic meters per year. Unfortunately, the melting of glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctic has led to a rise in sea levels. This, in turn, can threaten the life and well-being of hundreds of millions of people on Earth, especially on small islands and coastal areas,” said President Emomali Rahmon.

He also noted that this burning issue should be in the center of attention of the world community, and especially political leaders.

“In this context, I would also like to recall the proposal of Tajikistan to establish a special international fund for the protection of glaciers, which can mobilize financial resources from various sources to take the necessary steps and achieve this goal,” said Emomali Rahmon.

For the first time in 2009, he has first proposed on the need to create a special international fund for the protection of glaciers from the rostrum of the International Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen.

Glaciers are the main source of clean water and their rapid melting, along with increased water consumption associated with population growth and economic development, could have far-reaching consequence.