The Contracting Parties, giving priority to ensuring ecological safety and acting according to the present and other bilateral and multilateral agreements, shall undertake the necessary arrangements for the prevention of environmental pollution and providing for rational management of natural resources. Special joint environmental programmes and projects shall be elaborated for such purpose. The Contracting Parties shall render mutual assistance in case of natural disasters and shall cooperate for the rehabilitation of disturbed regional ecosystems and, first of all, water basins of Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, and the Aral Sea (art. 13).