CAIER

Aselle Tasmagambetova spoke at the Global Water Summit in Paris

Founder of the Central Asian Institute for Environmental Studies, ecologist Aselle Tasmagambetova was invited to the Global Water Summit, where she presented a regional perspective on water supply issues on behalf of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, where water stress is not a distant threat but a daily reality.

The Global Water Summit is taking place from 12 to 14 May 2025 in Paris. It is a leading international platform for strategic dialogue on water supply, infrastructure, climate change resilience and system transformation.

Aselle Tasmagambetova took part in a panel discussion organised by Israel's national water company Mekorot, which addressed the interconnection between water and energy in the context of climate change.

The event was attended by leading experts and technology leaders in water conservation, including Mekorot CEO Amit Lang and Sanzhar Arynbaev, who presented Kazakhstan's strategy for water and energy resources.

In her speech, Asselle Tasmagambetova noted that there are three priority areas where the need for change is particularly acute and the potential for innovation is great:

  1. Real-time water monitoring — we cannot effectively manage what we do not measure.
  2. Reducing water losses — in Central Asia, losses in some systems reach 50%.
  3. Reforming industrial agriculture — through smart irrigation, sustainable crop selection and closed water cycles.

According to the founder of CAIER, moving forward requires not only advanced technologies, but also the ability to adapt and localise them to climate conditions, institutional specificities and regional characteristics.

‘Kazakhstan and its neighbours are facing increasing pressure from climate change, water abstraction in river basins and dilapidated infrastructure. At the same time, we have a unique opportunity to modernise, digitise and rethink our approach to water management,’ said ecologist Asselle Tasmagambetova in her speech.

The founder of CAIER expressed her gratitude to the Global Water Summit team for creating a platform where regional voices meet global innovation, as well as to

Amit Lang and Sanzhar Arynbaeva for their insightful leadership and active participation in the discussion.
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