Programme description

Title: Programme for the sustainable use of natural resources in Central Asia
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
Overall term: 2002 to 2015

Context

Central Asia is suffering like no other region in the world from the consequences of climate change. The continued expansion of deserts and arid areas are expected, along with above-average increases in temperature and water shortages. Natural resources such as pasture, forests and wildlife are already scarce and have been placed under considerable strain due to inappropriate exploitation. The region is affected by a lack of awareness about, or application of strategies for the sustainable use of these resources. Consequently, they are becoming degraded in the short and medium-term, and biological diversity is being lost. This, in turn, serves to aggravate poverty in rural areas. The governments have now understood the dangers, but they are mostly overwhelmed when it comes to solving the problems.

For several years, the regional programme of GIZ has been developing new, regionally adapted approaches for the participatory and sustainable management of natural resources, and has been implementing projects in Central Asia that range from direct support for communities, to the promotion of cross-border cooperation and regional partnerships.

Objective

Pasture, forest and wildlife resources are being managed in an economically viable, socially acceptable and ecologically sustainable way.

Approach

Forests: The programme takes a joint forest management approach, under which the national forest department leases the long-term usage rights to forest plots to private tenants. The tenants use the plots in a sustainable manner and protect them from illegal deforestation and overgrazing. At the local level, the programme supports people and national institutions in concluding lease contracts and devising management plans. It provides technical training to both the tenants and the forest department staff, and supports incentives for local forest users to reforest degraded areas (savings book approach). Positive experiences from the local level are fed into national forest sector reform efforts.

Pasture: Regional experiences are shared more widely, and locally adapted problem-solving approaches are developed to encourage the sustainable management of pastures. Central aspects of the approach are the sensitisation of pasture users and support for the pasture committees. At the same time, the programme is promoting dialogue between the users and the staff of the local authorities and relevant ministries.

Wildlife: Here, activities are based on the principle of ‘protection through use’, which involves local people in the design of wildlife management regulations, while allowing them to gain economic benefits from their application.

Results achieved so far

Active regional exchanges promote the rapid and efficient dissemination between countries and between sectors, of approaches to the sustainable management of pasture, forests and wildlife that prove successful.

In Tajikistan, sustainable forest management has now been given a legal basis and is being more widely introduced. Thus, even outside the pilot areas it is now becoming possible to increase the forested area and improve the living conditions for those who use the forests. Drawing on the Tajik experiences, a similar approach is now also being applied in Kyrgyzstan.

In Kyrgyzstan the programme advised the Ministry for Agriculture on the introduction of a new pasture law, basing this advice on experiences gathered during a pilot project. In Kazakhstan the participatory pasture management approach has been adapted to local conditions and can now be integrated legally and institutionally. The programme is now working to transfer the sustainable pasture management approach to Uzbekistan.

In Tajikistan, sustainable wildlife management has been successfully introduced and is now being used in different parts of the country. This user-based approach to wildlife management is now being transferred to Kyrgyzstan.

Download

• Центральная Азия: действовать локально – сотрудничать регионально (Устойчивое использование природных ресурсов)
  GIZ 2012
  giz2012-ru-nachhaltige-nutzung-natuerlicher-ressourcen-zentralasien.pdf, 1.30 MB (Russian)

Further information

• Natural Resources – Central Asia
  Local website of the programme (English and Russian)
  www.naturalresources-centralasia.org