Temperatures:

During the past week, temperatures averaged near to slightly below normal across most of Central Asia. Seasonal temperatures can be expected across most of the region during the first week of May. Minimum temperatures are forecast to remain above freezing except for the higher elevations of Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Maximum temperatures are forecast to warm above 30 degrees C across southern Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan during the beginning of May.

Precipitation

Temperatures:

*Map includes all USAID/OFDA DRR programs active in FY 2012

Link: Disaster RIsk Reduction – Europe, The Middle East, And Central Asiasia Fact Sheet #1, Fiscal Year (FY) 2012

29 January 2013 – The Security Council today stressed the need for cooperation and coordination between governments in Central Asia and regional organizations to strengthen peace, stability and sustainable development in the region.

In particular, the 15-member body underlined the need for governments to collaborate with the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA), in a statement issued to the press.

Temperatures:

During the middle period of December, much below normal temperatures spread across Central Asia, with significant (< -8 degrees Celsius) negative anomalies over portions of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and southern Kazakhstan. Below-average temperatures have also persisted throughout the central highlands and northeast mountains of Afghanistan. During the next week, colder than average temperatures are forecast to continue throughout central and northeastern Afghanistan, where minimum temperature could fall between -30 and -25 degrees Celsius.

Precipitation

HIGHLIGHTS

• In July – September 2012, the region received $5.5 million in humanitarian funding

• ECHO remains the region’s largest donor

• Food security programmes in Tajikistan most funded

Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme

Sixty-third session

Geneva, 1-5 October 2012

Update on UNHCR’s operations in Asia and the Pacific

A. Situational analysis including new developments

The Asia-Pacific region is home to the world’s largest and oldest refugee populations. The protection environment continues to be fragile with very few countries having signed the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Asia remains, however, a region with a good record of providing asylum to large numbers of refugees.

3 September 2012, ALMATY - For the first time since establishing its presence in Central Asia in 2007, the Regional Office of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) for Caucasus and Central Asia signs a year-long grant agreement with the European Commission's Department of Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO). The grant comes within the framework of ECHO's worldwide Disaster Preparedness programme (DIPECHO) that for the past 16 years has addressed vulnerabilities in dozens of countries at risk of devastating disasters.

9 August 2012 – The Security Council has voiced its support for the role that preventive diplomacy and early warning mechanisms play in settling disputes peacefully, and praised the work carried out by a United Nations centre in Central Asia to strengthen this practice in the region.