Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The 14th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals opens today in Samarkand (Uzbekistan). The international environmental coalition Rivers without Boundaries calls on conference participants to pay serious attention to how the rampant construction of dams and reservoirs throughout Central Asia is leading to a decrease in populations and the complete extinction of Red List species.

As an example, experts from the Rivers Without Borders coalition point to the basin of the long-suffering Amudarya River: changes in its flow as a result of the creation of reservoirs and dams that change the hydrological regime and block the migration routes of fish have become the most important reason for the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species to take under its protection the great Amudarya pseudoshovelnose - a unique sturgeon adapted to live in the fast and muddy waters of the Vakhsh, Pyanj and Amudarya. Its close relative, the Syrdarya false pathologist, is already considered extinct by most experts precisely because of the creation of numerous dams and reservoirs on the Syrdarya and its tributaries.

However, as experts from the Rivers Without Borders coalition emphasize, the recently published World Bank assessment of the environmental impact of the construction of the Rogun hydroelectric power station in the Amudarya basin does not consider the state of populations and the possible impact of changes in river flow on rare fish species of the lower Vakhsh and the Amudarya itself. Pseudopathos, classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a critically endangered species, is not mentioned at all in the materials assessing the impact of hydroelectric power stations, although it is in the lower reaches of the Vakhsh River that one of the important centers of survival of this rare fish is located.

Another example cited by environmentalists is the Aral salmon that once migrated along the Amudarya and Vakhsh (listed in the Red Book of Tajikistan), which has now completely disappeared from there after the creation of the Tuyamuyun hydroelectric complex and the Vakhsh cascade of hydroelectric power stations. Scientists found the last group of Aral salmon in the Nurek reservoir, but it will probably disappear as a result of the construction of the Rogun hydroelectric station upstream, since as a result there will simply be no rivers left for salmon where they could spawn.

“Despite the requirements of national legislation regarding the assessment of environmental impact and the protection of rare species, in all countries of Central Asia, rivers, their valleys, fauna and flora that depend on their ecological health - all this is massively sacrificed during the implementation of ill-founded projects of hydraulic structures, – points out the international coordinator of the environmental coalition “Rivers Without Borders” Evgeny Simonov. “To date, the design and construction of most dams throughout the region has not seriously attempted to prevent harm to populations of rare migratory species.”

“Failure to consider the potential impacts of hydroelectric power plants on rare migratory species and natural ecosystems is not only a gross violation of international environmental conventions, but also often contradicts the environmental policies of those development banks that are going to provide loans for the creation of reservoirs,” emphasizes Alexander Kolotov, coordinator of the environmental coalition “Rivers without borders" in Central Asia. “We hope that discussions during the conference of parties in Samarkand will contribute to the introduction of more responsible approaches to the selection of sites for the placement of energy facilities, and above all dam hydroelectric power plants as the most dangerous hydraulic structures for nature.”

The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals was signed in 1979 in Bonn (Germany). Came into force in 1983. There are 133 countries that are members of the Convention. The Bonn Convention aims to bring together range states through which migratory species pass and provide the legal basis for internationally agreed conservation measures for species throughout the migratory range. Among the fauna of the Central Asian countries, in addition to migratory birds, four species of sturgeon, as well as many mammals, such as the snow leopard and Bukhara deer, are protected by the Bonn Convention.

The environmental coalition Rivers without Boundaries is an international network of non-governmental organizations and experts dedicated to protecting transboundary rivers and promoting best practices in river basin management. The coalition was formed in 2009, in 2011 the Mongolian branch of the organization was registered in Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) under the name “Rivers without Boundaries”, in 2023 the coalition established the public foundation “Shekarasyz Ozender” to work in Central Asian countries "("Rivers Without Borders"), based in Almaty (Kazakhstan).