As part of the OSCE project "Promoting Environmental Security through Advancing Sustainable Development and Climate Resilience Practices", a scientific field expedition was conducted to Lake Sudochie, located in the Muynak district of the Republic of Karakalpakstan. The expedition was organized with the financial support of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan (PCUz) and in partnership with the Executive Agency of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) for project implementation in the Aral Sea Basin.
Leading scientists and experts from the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, Karakalpak State University, the Ministry of Ecology, environmental protection and climate change and other relevant institutions were part of the mission. Fieldwork focused on monitoring water levels and salinity, assessing vegetation conditions, GPS mapping, and the collection and preliminary analysis of biodiversity data. Modern monitoring methodologies were applied, including bioindication-an effective tool for assessing environmental quality based on the response of living organisms.
"Monitoring the Sudochie wetland ecosystem has both scientific and strategic significance," noted Ambassador Antti Karttunen, OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan, who joined the expedition. "The findings provide a basis for understanding the impacts of climate change and human activity, and for developing proposals to preserve biodiversity and restore degraded areas in the Aral Sea region. We are pleased to support biodiversity conservation efforts in one of the most vulnerable regions of Central Asia-especially in a year that Uzbekistan has declared the Year of Environmental Protection and Green Economy."
According to Abrojon Karimov, Project Manager at the IFAS Agency and participant of the expedition, "Monitoring at Sudochie is more than just data collection. It's a contribution to the region's resilience. We're capturing changes that are invisible to the naked eye and turning them into the foundation for concrete solutions. Thanks to the OSCE's support, the expedition was organized at a high level and carried out in full compliance with safety standards."
The PCUz has supported IFAS on monitoring of biodiversity of Aral Sea Region since 2016. The expedition to Lake Sudochie is part of a broader initiative to promote sustainable natural resource management and enhance environmental resilience in Central Asia. OSCE support helps Uzbekistan not only fulfil its international commitments under the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity but also implement modern approaches to environmental governance.
