DUSHANBE, September 29, 2009, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan should use its hydropower resources in full, Professor Abdulhomid Qayumov said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, if Tajikistan does not use its hydropower resources and use oil and natural gas for generating power “waste materials will increase in the country.”
“It is in contrary to the Kyoto Protocol and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change aimed at achieving stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system,” said the Tajik expert, “Development of alternative energy sources such as hydropower engineering is the only way for Tajikistan to reduce emissions to the atmosphere.”
Commenting on Uzbek authorities’ statement that destruction of reservoirs in neighboring countries will lead to the environmental disaster, Professor Qayumov noted that it was one-sided view on the problem. “Reservoirs in Tajikistan do not occupy large territories as the reservoirs in Uzbekistan and there is no threat of a sudden dam failure,” he said.
“Quite a different matter is evaporation from water surfaces of reservoirs. Tajikistan has conducted ecological examination in Roghun to find out to what an extent evaporation from water surfaces will impact the environments,” said Qayumov, “Our reservoirs cannot cause serious damage to the environments due to relief of their locations.”
