UNDP Uzbekistan

March 31, 2011, Tashkent - The United Nations Development Programme, the Global Environment Facility and the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan “Achieving Ecosystem Stability in Degraded Lands of Karakalpakstan and the Kyzylkum Desert” project organized a seminar on “Environmental Challenges: Solutions and Entrepreneurship” in the Higher School of Business of the Academy of State and Social Construction under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The seminar dealt with existing ecological issues and promising opportunities to restore balance between society and ecosystems.
Finding and applying effective solutions to the existing environmental challenges imposes participation of all stakeholders in the process of preserving the natural heritage. The dynamically growing business sector has a significant impact on management of natural resources, which creates a need for environmental education of business leaders and entrepreneurs. The seminar targeted to enhance the future business leaders’ decision-making capacities while taking into account environmental impact of the business projects. “In the near future these men and women will be making management decisions; therefore, we aim at providing an insight into interrelationship of business activities and issues of natural resources management and the ways of addressing innovative solutions to apply environment-friendly business solutions” – stated Ms. Irina Bekmirzaeva, the Project Manager.
Opening part of the seminar was marked with presentation of a documentary film on best practices and the project experience in combating desertification, rehabilitation of degraded lands and improving livelihoods for local desert communities.
The final part of the seminar also included interactive session, where planting forests and creating workplaces in degraded territories, as well as achieving ecological balance between natural resource use and business activities were discussed. Showcased opportunities to raise an enterprises’ public appeal while employing environmentally-friendly methods and technologies stirred a particular interest among the participants.