Uzbekistan Elected as Chair of the CAMI Initiative for 2026–2032
2025-06-30 16:00:00 / News
The event was organized with the support of the Government of Uzbekistan and the CMS Secretariat as part of an international project funded by Germany’s International Climate Initiative (IKI).
For reference: CAMI brings together 14 countries in a joint effort to protect rare and endangered species, including the snow leopard, cheetah, wild camel, Bukhara deer, kulan, and goitered gazelle, among others.
The meeting marked an essential step toward strengthening regional cooperation. It brought together around 60 representatives from the CAMI range states as well as from international and regional organizations, including International Union for Conservation of Nature( IUCN), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS), the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and others.
Participants presented national progress reports, reviewed the implementation of the CAMI Programme of Work 2020–2026, and reached consensus on the draft Programme of Work for 2026–2032. Priority areas for future work were outlined, along with proposed criteria for identifying conservation priority zones across the region.
The updated edition of the Central Asian Mammal Migration and Linear Infrastructure Atlas was also presented, featuring a significantly expanded second edition and a newly launched digital platform hosted by CMS.
Among the key decisions adopted:
—Support for Uzbekistan’s proposal to remove the Bukhara deer from Appendix I of the CMS, with a view to its formal submission for adoption at COP15;
—Endorsement of Tajikistan’s proposal to list the striped hyena in Appendix I of the CMS;
—Inclusion of the Pallas’ cat and the Eurasian lynx in the CAMI species list.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Uzbekistan was elected as Chair of the CAMI Initiative for the 2026–2032 intersessional period, with Turkmenistan serving as Vice-Chair.
According to the Terms of Reference adopted by the participating countries, the CAMI Chair plays a vital coordinating role: fostering dialogue among range states, advancing the implementation of the Programme of Work, mobilizing resources, and strengthening partnerships to support conservation across the region.
Hosting this vital gathering reaffirmed Uzbekistan’s leadership in advancing the regional environmental agenda and its commitment to the outcomes of CMS COP14, held in Samarkand.