Over 1,000 glaciers disappear in Tajikistan over past decades - Rahmon
DUSHANBE. June 21 (Interfax) - Climate change is pronounced in Tajikistan: hundreds of glaciers are melting in the Pamir Mountains, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon said at the UN Sustainable Development Conference in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday.
"Tajikistan used to have over 14,000 big and small glaciers, which supplied approximately 60% of the regional river flow. Yet more than 1,000 of them disappeared within the past few decades," he said.
The president appealed for international help to the establishment of an international fund for rescuing glaciers. He said that glacier melting was already causing numerous natural calamities in the republic.
"Natural calamities cause huge economic and moral damage in Tajikistan practically every year. Thousands of people become homeless and there are frequent casualties," he said.
"The annual damage to the national economy is estimated at hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars. Natural calamities not only inflict sudden damage but also undermine the country's effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and impede the fulfillment of poverty-reduction programs and strategies," he said.
Rahmon expressed the interest of Tajikistan in cooperation in the managing of mountain resources and the socioeconomic development of highland regions. The Pamir and Tian-Shan Mountains account for 93% of the Tajik territory.
"The abrupt melting of glaciers in Tajikistan and the increased number of natural calamities in recent decades show that highland regions respond most rapidly to any atmospheric and climate change and their residents are most vulnerable to global changes and challenges," the president said.
He joined the appeal of a number of countries for writing off debts of mountainous countries and transforming debts into grants. The foreign debt of Tajikistan stood at $2.124 billion as of January 1, 2012, or 32.6% of the GDP. The debt was $1.943 billion a year ago.
