Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- A new CGIAR Initiative, NEXUS Gains, will be introduced to the broad, Aral Sea Basin’s audience during the discussion workshop on 11 March 2022 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. 

The NEXUS Gains is a wholistic approach that utilizes systems thinking across water, energy, food and ecosystems, with a focus on forests and biodiversity for the ecosystem component, in the Aral Sea Basin’s context. To help identify synergies and tradeoffs across the interconnected systems, the NEXUS Gains will develop and share tools, guidelines, training and facilitate analysis and research for development. This novel approach will strengthen climate resilience and lead to tangible benefits for rural men and women living in Central Asia. 

An integrated, systems-level approach is key to manage risks and support sustainability in all dimensions of natural resources management (economic, social and environmental). 

During the workshop high-level participants will share their thoughts on opportunities to promote and institutionalize the WEFE Nexus approach and identify potential activities within the framework of WEFE NEXUS Gains initiative in the Aral Sea Basin. Overall, the Program will contribute to enabling decision-makers to have practical, science and evidence-based solutions and decision support system and strengthen capacity of stakeholders (by creating knowledge base, improving skills, commitments to work on nexus nodes, improve relationships at different sectors of economy).  

The national partners of the Program such as the Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Energy and State committee on nature protection and other stakeholders will have coherent policies in the water-energy-food-ecosystems nexus and ensure that the policy changes are robust and resilient. 

The full day workshop will bring together the national partners, development partners and international organizations to discuss the peculiarities of introducing the WEFE NEXUS approach in the context of the Aral Sea Basin.