DUSHANBE, October 2, Asia-Plus - Environmental protection is the theme of an OSCE-organized international ecological forum of young people that opened at the town of Varzob near Dushanbe today.

According to Aleksandr Sodiqov, Media Assistant at the OSCE Center in Dushanbe, said that during a four-day conference some 80 environmental activists and scientists from Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Uzbekistan will share their experience in the field and discuss ways to coordinate efforts to protect the environment.

“The main goal of the forum is to create a governmental environment protection network to foster inter-governmental and inter-regional dialogue in Central Asia,” said Andrey Shugurov, the Deputy Head of the OSCE Center in Dushanbe.

Abduvohid Karimov, the Head of the Tajik State Committee for Environmental Protection and Forestry, added: “I am glad to see that the younger generation is building on the achievements of the older generation in the area of environmental protection, and is prepared to take these achievements further to meet the demands of time.”

The forum was co-organized with the non-governmental organization Kuhiston International Foundation, Tajikistan’s State Committee for Environmental Protection and Forestry, the Central Asian Regional Environment Center and the international organization CARE.