The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Network (BES-Net) Central Asia Regional Trialogue is taking place in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on 9-11 October 2019, engaging the six countries in the region, namely Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan with the financial support of the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. More than 75 key stakeholders from policy, science and practice communities are brought together to deliberate on region-specific challenges and opportunities around the issues of pollinators and land degradation, as highlighted in the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) thematic assessments, and move towards building a common agenda for actions.
 

In his opening statement, Hon. Yerlan Nyssanbayev, Vice Minister of Ecology, Geography and Natural Resources in Kazakhstan, pointed out the severances of land degradation facing the country and the wider Central Asia. He stressed the need to strengthen the regional partnership in close collaboration with UNDP and other agencies, and upscale the successful conservation and sustainable land management practices beyond national borders.
 

Mr. Vitalie Vremish, Deputy Resident Representative at UNDP Kazakhstan, emphasized UNDP’s commitment to support the Governments’ efforts in transition towards green economy in partnership with all key stakeholders across state institutions, private sector, as well as civil society.  “Let’s build a future in Central Asian countries where rising harm to the environment is only taught in history class”, he said.  
 

“Decisive action now and over the coming years will be crucial to make the post-2020 global biodiversity framework a success”, said Ms. Schmidt, Deputy Consul-General of Germany in Kazakhstan. “We are convinced that bringing together academic scientists, policymakers and practitioners with local knowledge is a right way forward as the fora for exploring and designing intelligent and integrated to protect our own basis of life.”
 

Building on the successful organization of the three regional Trialogue in 2017-2019, the Central Asia Regional Trialogue aims at creating a welcoming and constructive space for the participants to share the latest knowledge about land degradation, status, trends and drivers of change, and its impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services (e.g. pollinators decline) at national and regional levels. The Trialogue will facilitate the participants to jointly identify the practical “bright spots” of measures that simultaneously contribute to the achievement of the global agendas on biodiversity (e.g. Aichi Target and the post-2020 global biodiversity framework),  land (e.g. Land Degradation Neutrality), and climate change.