United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Country Office in Uzbekistan hosted a media briefing on climate change. The event was organized on the occasion of the Global high-level dialogue on climate change, which will take place on 24 September at the UN Headquarters in New York.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will seek to advance the global agenda on climate change when he meets with heads of state and other top officials from more than 150 countries at United Nations Headquarters on 24 September. More than 70 heads of state or government will attend the one-day event, making it the largest meeting ever of world leaders on climate change.

The high-level event — which takes place one day before the opening of the UN General Assembly’s annual General Debate — is aimed at securing political commitment and building momentum for the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali where negotiations about a new international climate agreement should start. The Bali meeting, from 3 to 14 December, will convene the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: "This will be an informal event where the leaders of the world come together, with a renewed sense of commitment, to tackle a problem that faces each one of us – and above all the most vulnerable populations on our planet, those endangered by rising sea levels and those whose supply of food and water will be greatly affected by the changing climate," noted in his speech the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Mr. Anvar Nasritdinov, the Head of Environment and Energy Unit of UNDP Uzbekistan, opened the media briefing: "Acknowledging the importance of climate change and necessity of taking rapid measures on mitigation of its consequences, Uzbekistan signed the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1993 and ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 1999."

"This year, UNDP and the Government of Uzbekistan have launched a new project to help the country to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fund sustainable development by tapping the global carbon finance market. The "Capacity Building for Clean Development Mechanism in Uzbekistan" project aims to build public and private sector capacities for developing carbon finance, which in turn will help reducing GHG emissions, boosting energy efficiency and use of renewable energy and supporting development of the Uzbek economy in an environmentally friendly manner."

It is important to note that the Government of Uzbekistan entrusted the Centre of Hydrometeorological Service (Uzhydromet) with functions of realization of obligations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Ms. Gulnara Zubkova, the Head of Department on monitoring of pollution of the environment at the Uzhydromet, mentioned in her keynote speech that major GHG emissions consist of carbon dioxide (CO2), which compiles 67% of all emissions. One of the most powerful sources of CO2 emissions appears to be the energy sector of Uzbekistan, e.g. the energy production and use.

The event was also aimed at learning opportunities about Climate Change and its possible consequences for Uzbekistan.

Mr. Alexey Volkov, Environment specialist of UNDP Uzbekistan, provided general information on climate change and pointed out that there is a difference between global warming and climate change terms. He said that, the term "global warming" is a specific example of the broader term "climate change", which can also refer to global cooling. In common usage the term refers to recent warming and implies a human influence. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) uses the term "climate change" for human-caused change, and "climate variability" for other changes. The term "anthropogenic global warming" is sometimes used when focusing on human-induced changes.

At the end of the briefing journalist and mass-media representatives received answers to their questions. Namely, they were interested whether any practical projects have been developed so far, that would directly address the question of green house gases reduction under the Clean Development Mechanism. In fact, it is planned that the industrial sector of Uzbekistan will create up to 50 projects by the end of this year.