On July 28, 2021, Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia (hereinafter referred to as RCEECA) held a meeting on promoting the annual key work successfully, and all personnel from RCEECA, Almaty Sub-centre, Bishkek Sub-centre and Dushanbe Sub-centre, the personnel from Karakalpak Branch and Institute of Botany of Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, and personnel concerned from Hydrology, Desertification, Land Utilization and Halophyte Agriculture Teams of Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography attended the meeting. The meeting was chaired by Chen Xi, Director of RCEECA.

At the meeting, in combination with the work deployment at the beginning of the year, Director Chen Xi further sorted out and clarified the annual key work and tasks of RCEECA, and these sub-centers systematically reported the major work in the first half of the year from such aspects as operation management, scientific research progress and achievement outputs, and put forward the difficulties and problems to be solved and the work plans for the following work. 

Director Chen Xi gave full recognition and thanks for the achievements obtained in all the work under the epidemic situation, put forward specific requirements for ensuring solid and effective progress of field observation, scientific research and experimental demonstration work, and made specific arrangements for the key tasks in the second half of the year. In terms of operation management of field stations, it is necessary to ensure the normal operation of observation equipment, data download, fault diagnosis, maintenance and trouble removal, and further clarify the responsibilities of field station staff to carry out regular inspection and maintenance earnestly; in terms of annual key tasks, promote the renovation of drone hangars, the construction of a monitoring system for Sarez Lake and the cataloguing of glaciers in Tajikistan, improve the construction of a drinking water safety project and a hydrological monitoring network and the research on lake environmental changes in Kyrgyzstan, strengthen the construction of agricultural demonstration areas, the integration of the northern drought warning system and the analysis of the changes of the North Aral Sea in Kazakhstan, and promote the demonstration and promotion of water conservation, the application of water resources optimization management system, ecological restoration of the Aral Sea and the construction of field stations in Uzbekistan; meanwhile, emphasis should be placed on the annual key tasks, prioritize key areas, grasp the highlights and overcome the difficulties to ensure that the annual targets and tasks are completed on schedule, and it is necessary to ensure the preliminary preparation and demonstration of the renovation project of the ecosystem field observation and research stations in the Moynaq Aral Sea Basin to ensure that the construction can start next year; this year’s SCO Summit will be held in Tajikistan in September, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the SCO and the 30th anniversary of Tajikistan’s independence, RCEECA will spare no effort to ensure and support Dushanbe Sub-centre to organize academic seminars and other related activities.

In addition, the attendees also discussed and exchanged views on the specific implementation of the ongoing scientific and technological cooperation projects of RCEECA .

Photos of the meeting scene