This manual provides an overview of climate-driven stressors relevant to transport infrastructure in Central Asia and explores adaptation strategies. Over the next decades, the effects of climate change will likely exert considerable pressure on the transport infrastructure of Central Asia. In response, policymakers and the engineering community need to implement resilient yet sustainable designs and construction solutions. This resource provides technical and practical information to support such work.

Ecological complexity and diverse ecosystems give Central and West Asia rich natural resources and hydrocarbon reserves. Countries in this region are exposed to climate change risks, and there is growing recognition that their carbon-intensive economies necessitate greenhouse gas mitigation. This report assesses the costs, benefits, and investment opportunities for greenhouse gas reduction in the energy and transport sectors of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, and discusses indirect benefits of such reduction to human health and energy security. It gives policymakers, practitioners, and academics an overview of policy measures and technologies available for emission reduction, as well as scenarios of future emission trajectories in the three countries.

This step-by-step manual describes procedures for climate change adjustments relative to extreme rainfall and local sea level estimates. The principles presented are based on worked examples discussed in the knowledge product accompanied by this manual. While the overall approach on climate change adjustment procedures and calculations are intended to be as transparent as possible, key sources of information and assumptions are open to scrutiny as some elements may be affected by rapid advancements in science and technology. It is essential for data to be periodically reviewed, in line with the latest reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

This country note for Uzbekistan is part of a series of country briefs that summarize information relevant to climate change and agriculture for four pilot countries in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Region, with a particular focus on climate and crop projections, adaptation options, policy development and institutional involvement. The note series has been developed to provide a baseline of knowledge on climate change and agriculture for the pilot countries participating in the regional program on reducing vulnerability to climate change in ECA agricultural systems. For Uzbekistan, this note was shared with the Government and other agricultural sector stakeholders and used as an engagement tool for the National Awareness Raising and Consultation Workshop on reducing vulnerability to climate change in Uzbekistan s agricultural systems, held in Tashkent in May 2010. Feedback and comments on the note from this consultation process have been incorporated into this updated version in collaboration with the Uzbekistan Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources (MAWR).

Central Asia is highly vulnerable to climate change threats, which have negatively impacted both humans and wildlife. Tajikistan, one of the least urbanized countries in the region, is prone to natural disasters, disruptions in rainfall, growing temperatures, reductions in glacial cover, and extreme weather events (Zoï Environment Network 2020; Green Climate Fund [GCF] 2020). The Government of the Republic of Tajikistan acknowledges the problems and risks posed by climate change and is working toward ad dressing them to meet the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) focused on climate change and environmental concerns. One critical step in this direction is the submission of its updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in 2021, which states the country’s proposed efforts to support sustainable and efficient development, taking into consideration climate change, environmental, and socioeconomic challenges for the period 2020–2030 (Government of the Republic of Tajikistan 2021). Weak institutional capacity and lack of efficient vertical and horizontal coordination between multiple stakeholders could undermine the possibility of undertaking integrated climate change actions, how ever. Thus, given the interconnected and multistakeholder nature of climate change issues, the first step is to identify all relevant stakeholders. This effort must be accompanied by an understanding of how the country’s multisectoral climate change issues are being addressed through the policy system and national and regional institutions and how development partners support these efforts (Clar and Steurer 2019). In this paper, we map institutions, stakeholders, and relevant policies that support NDC implementation in Tajikistan and understand their specific roles and responsibilities and related interlinkages. The key impact objective of this paper is to create a knowledge product that helps strengthen vertical and horizontal coordination between institutions working on climate change issues in Tajikistan.

Given the strategic role of seaports and of other coastal transport infrastructure as part of the global trading system and the potential for climate-related delays and disruptions across global supply chains, enhancing the climate resilience of key transport infrastructure is a matter of strategic economic importance. Legal and regulatory approaches, as well as policies and plans are going to be key to efforts at facilitating effective risk and vulnerability assessments and providing a supportive framework for adaptation action at all levels. Guidance, standards, best practices, methodologies and other tools in support of adaptation are urgently required, and targeted capacity building is going to be critical, especially for the most vulnerable countries. This includes SIDS, which depend on their ports and coastal airports for food and energy needs, external trade and - crucially - tourism, which typically accounts for a major share of GDP. Against this background and drawing on UNCTAD's related work, since 2008, this compilation of policies and practices has been prepared to contribute to bridging a knowledge gap with regards to climate change impacts and adaptation for coastal transport infrastructure. The compilation presents examples of legal and policy approaches, as well as of reports, studies and guidance to support climate risk, vulnerability and impact assessment, and the development of effective adaptation response measures for coastal transport infrastructure, with a view to informing and inspiring policy makers, national authorities, transport managers, infrastructure owners, and other interested stakeholders in their efforts.

Over the last few decades, Uzbekistan's remarkable economic growth has been largely fueled by resource extraction and the mining and manufacturing sectors of the economy. Yet, this progress has come at a high price. The country's economy is now the fifth most intensive in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the world and the most intensive in Europe and Central Asia due to a fossil-fuel heavy energy mix, an energy-intensive industrial sector, and low energy efficiency across the sectors. Like the rest of Central Asia, Uzbekistan is also highly vulnerable to climate change. Recently, many regions in Uzbekistan, including Tashkent, experienced an unprecedented sand and dust storm, the worst in 150 years of recorded history. Green transition is also important for the people of Uzbekistan, who are the most vulnerable to climate change. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has added yet another shock to the compounding impacts of many challenges that vulnerable populations already face, with the potential to create devastating health, social, economic, and environmental crises that can leave a deep and long-lasting mark. Today, Uzbekistan recognizes a unique opportunity to overcome limits to growth under its current development pattern and to strengthen its economic competitiveness in a global marketplace that has become more climate and environmentally aware. Pursuing a green transition with widespread benefits requires a whole-of-society approach that considers a broad range of stakeholders. To that end, the Ministry of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction of the Republic of Uzbekistan (MEDPR), The World Bank, and the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC) jointly held a series of public policy dialogues on green growth and climate change. The World Bank Group remains committed to continuing to be a trusted partner of the government Uzbekistan. Summaries of the eleven policy dialogue roundtables presented in this compendium should inspire many other countries in Europe and Central Asia to follow Uzbekistan's lead on this agenda.