From April 18 to April 20, in Almaty took a place the first workshop in Central Asia - a meeting on the topic: Development of the Global Network of Mountain Observatories (GNOMO), Mountain Observatories workshop.

The organizers of the international meeting were - Mountain Research Initiative & GEO Mountains (Switzerland), University of Reading (Great Britain) and Kazakhstan research institutions - Central Asian Regional Glaciological Centre as a category 2 Centre under the auspices of UNESCO and Institute of Geography and Water Security.

The opening speech was made by the director of the Central Asian Regional Glaciological Centre Balykbayev Takir Ospanovich and academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Doctor of Geographical Sciences, Professor Severskiy Igor Vasilyevich.

The workshop was opened by Adler Carolina, Mountain Research Initiative, Switzerland, Executive Director of GEO Mountains (Switzerland) and spoke about plans to create a network of mountain observatories for mountain research in Central Asia.

In workshop participated the scientists: Dr. Tornton James, Mountain Research Initiative, Switzerland, Professor Shahgedanova Maria, University of Reading (UK), Dr. Steinbacher, Swiss Federal Laboratory for Material Science and Technology, Dr. Caduff-Fiddes Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research in Davos, Dr. Jackson from ICIMOD, Dr. Pauli from the Austrian Academy of Sciences & BOKU Vienna, as well as scientists from Central Asia - Saidaliyeva Zarina, Satylkanov R.A., Usubaliev R.A. Osmonbaeva K., Milko D., Orunbaev S.Zh., Usupbaev A. From the Uzbek side, a report was made by Petrov M.A., and from the Tajik side - Professor Kayumov A.K. informed the audience about the resumption of mountain monitoring in Tajikistan, Mr. Caiserman Arnaud continued his speech with a report on research at the mountain observatory Khorog in the Pamirs in Tajikistan.

The head of the laboratory of high-mountain geocryology Kapitsa V.P. spoke about the ongoing scientific research in Kazakhstan at the high-mountain geocryological station "Tuiyksu".

The workshop ended with reports of Kogutenko L.V. about Mountain research conducted at the Kazakh-German University and of Dr. Tornton James and Dr. Adler Carolina on the topic: "Identification of the main social variables for application in the mountains."

The main goal of the first workshop-meeting in Central Asia "Development of the Global Network of Mountain Observatories (GNOMO)" is a meeting with representatives of national and other institutions for hydrometeorological monitoring in order to develop research on glaciology problems in Central Asia, as well as to strengthen the coordination of research activities and exchange information between international organizations participating in in monitoring of the glaciers in Central Asia.

The participants of the seminar workshop signed a memorandum of understanding between the CAMON observatories and mutual cooperation in the field of glaciology in the Network of Mountain Observatories of Central Asia.

As part of the workshop, an excursion to the valley of the Ulken Almaty River was organized.

All participants of the meeting expressed their deep satisfaction from the meeting with leading scientists of Central Asia and international organizations of the Global Network of Mountain Observatories (GNOMO).