Explanatory memorandum to the letter said the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan are the founders of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS), which operates on the basis of the status agreed by the Central Asian Heads of State on 9 April 1999 at Ashgabat.

The memo said the Aral environmental crisis is the result of an ill-considered policy regarding the environment and the use of natural resources. The main reason is the excessive use of water from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers for irrigation. This has led to the shrinking of the Aral Sea and has had an effect of unprecedented magnitude on the environment of the Central Asian region and neighbouring States, the Central Asian states’ representatives added.

Economic losses from the Aral crisis, climate change, hydrochemical features of water bodies, curtailment of fishing in the Aral Sea, degradation of over 4 million hectares of land and loss of biodiversity in the region total several billion dollars a year. The continuing deterioration of the environmental situation is exerting a direct and indirect negative influence on the living conditions and health of over 35 million inhabitants of the Aral Sea Basin and preventing normal economic activities. Overall, this is causing an increase in migratory movements in the region, the letter of envoys reads.

The Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan are of the view that, although the current problems of the Aral Sea Basin do not stem from a lack of international support, there is nevertheless a need for more effective and targeted measures and more specific and direct cooperation between the States of the region and the United Nations and other international organizations and donors through IFAS. As a first step, IFAS should be granted observer status in the United Nations General Assembly so that it can initiate various measures designed to improve the environmental, social and economic situation in the Aral Sea Basin.

Central Asian countries also presented a draft resolution on granting observer status to the IFAS in the General Assembly.