Turkmenistan - Overview of climate change activities

 85564 Turkmenistan Overview of Climate Change Activities October 2013 This Overview of Climate Change Activities in Turkmenistan* is part of a series of country notes for five Central Asian countries that summarize climate portfolio in a number of sectors, namely agriculture, forestry, water, health, energy, and transport. This note further provides a brief overview of Turkmenistan’s climate context in terms of observed impacts and historical trends as well as climate projections specific to sectors that are considered to be essential to the country’s economic development. Finally, t he note assesses national policy and institutional context related to climate change as well as suggests potential ways forward that could help Turkmenistan mainstream climate considerations into development activities and planning and create public demand for climate actions. *This note draws upon publicly available Web information and publications, including the World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal, and is intended to provide an overview of development partners’ climate portfolio over the past five years. Fact Sheet: Climate Change Exposure in Looking Ahead Turkmenistan Based on the review of national climate context, related challenges, and  Over 80 percent of Turkmenistan’s territory is covered by existing programs and policies, the following areas have been identified deserts and semideserts and 20 percent by mountains. for urgent initial actions:  Turkmenistan has a continental and extremely dry and hot  Improve science-based understanding of the nature and climate. magnitude of physical and biophysical climate change impacts under differing scenarios. This will be important in order to gain  Meteorological data series show a steady increase in average a better understanding of the timing and magnitude of mean temperature of 1.4°С since the 1950s. incidence of several important indicators of climate change in  Trends show that the amount of precipitation during recent the future as well as of the key vulnerabilities, development years has slightly increased, particularly in spring months, with impact, and possible adaptation responses. the lowest precipitation values being observed in summer.  Estimate cost of inaction as well as key actions across water resources, energy, agriculture, forestry, transport, and health  By 2040, atmospheric air temperature is expected to increase sectors to provide compelling economic arguments and a broad- by 2°C across the entire territory of Turkmenistan. By 2100, brush “road map