Stakeholder Engagement for Uranium Legacy Remediation in Central Asia

The “Stakeholder Engagement for Uranium Legacy Remediation in Central Asia” project was funded by the European Union with the total amount of support - 48,827.62 US dollars with the duration of January 2016 – March 2017.

Project Summary

A joint regional project on “Stakeholder engagement for Uranium Remediation in Central Asia” was a 3-year project, funded by the European Union and is implemented by Environment and Security Initiative (ENVESEC) partners including United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The objective of the project was to engage and inform stakeholders concerning remediation of uranium tailings in order to maximize its benefit.

Objectives

-        Stakeholder risk perceptions and capacities assessed;

-        Public awareness raised, and outreach facilitated for transparency, uptake and informed decision-making.

Accomplishments

Conducted Risk perception and capacity needs assessments of local stakeholders undertaken in priority ULS in in Istiqlol town and Goziyon jamoat of Sughd Province, Tajiksitan (Output 1)

·       398 respondents from Istiqlol town and 289 respondents from Goziyon jamoat of B.Gafurov district participated at the study.

Conducted public outreach campaigns to support dialogue, raise awareness and inform the population about the risks posed by ULS and benefits of remediation and risk management (Output 2):

·       Raised awareness of 500 representatives of community leaders, jamoat authorities, farmers, schoolchildren (60% of female) on remediation of uranium tailings in northern part of Tajikistan.

·       82 teachers and health-care employees (72 female and 10 male) participated in workshops on radiation safety.

·       Coordination meeting organized in Khujand on August 2016, with participation of national and regional stakeholders.

·       Overall 1000 copies of the booklet on radiation safety in three languages (Tajik, Russian and Uzbek) have been published and distributed among the project beneficiaries.

·       Documentary film on radiation safety “Everyone should know this” developed and broadcasted at the regional TV “Sughd” / 500 copies of disks were distributed to the national, regional and local stakeholders.

·       Animation Film on radiation safety developed and will be broadcasted at the regional TV “Sughd”.

·       Organized a tree planting campaign by planting 2,400 seedlings (poplar, elm and pines) in the territory adjacent to Uranium Legacy Sites (ULS) in Istiqlol town and Goziyon jamoat.

·       85 radiation warning signs were developed and installed around ULS.

Project partners

Agency for Nuclear and Radiation Safety of the Academy of Sciences of RT, Committee for Environmental Protection under the Government of RT, Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defence under the Government of RT, Ministry of industry and new technologies of the RT, NGO “YGPE/Aarhus Center”.