Meeting was held in Uzbekistan at the end of April to form an interdepartmental working group on the safety of tailings and the prevention of accidental water pollution. Uzbekistan will become the third country in the Central Asia (after Kazakhstan and Tajikistan) to officially create such a working group, the UN press service said.
Tailing dumps are designed for storage or disposal of radioactive, toxic and other tailings of mineral processing.
Gold and uranium are being actively mined in Uzbekistan, and the mining industry is expected to grow in the coming years, given that only 20% of the country's territory has been explored so far.
The expected growth in the number and size of mines is expected to lead to an increase in the number of tailings containing by-products of metal mining, which will create risks of water pollution.
To date, there are 41 tailings in Uzbekistan, 10 of which can potentially have a transboundary impact. In addition, the UN noted that Uzbekistan is located in the lower reaches of the rivers, and it can be affected by accidental water pollution in the countries of the upper reaches.
“Therefore, strengthening interagency and cross-border cooperation is key to both preventing accidental water pollution and mitigating the consequences in the event of an accident,” the UN stressed.
The meeting participants considered the recommendations of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) on improving the safety of tailings, and also studied the experience of creating interdepartmental working groups in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.
UNECE is supporting Uzbekistan in setting up a team, organizing on-site training and strengthening sub-regional cooperation through financial support from the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment. The working group will serve as a platform for coordination and cooperation between the authorities responsible for industrial safety, water resources, as well as the private sector, academia and non-governmental organizations.
The official of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Jahongir Talipov, underscored that the group will allow Uzbekistan to strengthen national management in the field of mining, will help achieve the country's environmental goals by 2030 and work towards joining the UNECE Industrial Accidents Convention.
The UN explained that Uzbekistan, although it is not currently a party to this convention, since 2005 has been receiving support from the assistance and cooperation program under the convention. At the same time, Uzbekistan has been a party to the Water Convention since 2007. Both conventions provide the country with the support it needs to prevent accidental water pollution.
