All five Central Asian countries are member States of ECE, but to date only two of them, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, are Parties to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention). As Parties to the Convention, they have specific mutual obligations to carry out a transboundary impact assessment procedure following the Espoo Convention requirements. However, countries face challenges related to the application of the transboundary EIA procedure at the national and sub-regional level due to absence of relevant legislative framework. In this context, it is important to provide capacity-building support to countries to strengthen their legal framework related to EIA procedures. Capacity building activities are also relevant for non-Parties (Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), as the Convention covers transboundary issues.

To overcome shortcoming on the legislation, UNECE has been supporting the process of developing guidelines that would serve as a tool for Central Asian countries for the practical implementation of transboundary EIA procedures in accordance with the Espoo Convention. This legal instrument is aimed to develop efficient mitigation measures to reduce anticipated negative environmental impact.

The objective of this activity is to build capacity on the use of the UNECE Guidelines on environmental impact assessment in a transboundary context for Central Asian countries (2018) in order to facilitate the application of EIA in Central Asia as a tool for greening the economies.