Project description

Title: Sustainable management of natural resources in Gorno-Badakhshan
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Tajikistan
Lead executing agency: The State Land Use Committee of Gorno-Badakhshan, the State Forestry Authority of Gorno-Badakhshan
Overall term: 2008 to 2010

Context

Since independence in 1991 Tajikistan, the poorest of the Central Asian republics, has faced a sustained energy crisis. The situation is particularly difficult in the mountain areas, which are poorly served with infrastructure. In the Soviet era the population of Pamir grew strongly and was supplied with fuel and food from outside. Today, some 90 percent of the region’s fuel needs must be covered using locally available raw materials such as wood and dung. This is considerably more than is ecologically sustainable in Pamir and is causing the rapid destruction of its natural resources and the loss of biodiversity.

The energy efficiency of private and public buildings, and of heating and cooking systems is extremely low as they have not been adapted to suit the changed situation. Conditions are getting worse because of the ongoing mismanagement of natural resources. This is most apparent in the exploitation of the sparse forest resources that occur naturally along the flood plains. The local population and state organisations are forced to use the wood from these forests, but are currently doing so in a largely unregulated and greedy fashion. The situation is even more threatening for the ecologically and culturally significant wildlife of Pamir, such as Marco Polo sheep, the markhor, the ibex and the snow leopard.

Objective

The destruction of natural resources in Gorno-Badakhshan has been reduced. Living conditions for local people have improved as a result.

Approach

The project is being implemented together with the German Development Service (DED), in cooperation with the Gorno-Badakhshan State Land Use Committee, the State Forestry Authority of Gorno-Badakhshan and various local partners from outside the public sector. The core of the work involves two complementary approaches.

• By promoting energy efficiency measures, the pressure on renewable energy resources is being reduced. Madina, a microfinance organisation, is given support to widen the scope of a microfinance product intended to encourage private households to install insulation. Efficient cooking and heating stoves, adapted to local conditions, are being developed, and the use of solar water heaters promoted. From mid 2009 a water component will be added to the project. This will promote the manufacture by local enterprises, and the widespread use of energy-neutral hydraulic ram pumps, which effectively power themselves by exploiting the water’s own energy, and other adapted technologies for using water more efficiently.
• The second approach is the restoration of the flood plains in Gorno-Badakhshan. Reforestation is being achieved with the support of the forestry authorities, by introducing a forest management system that also involves the local forest users. The local, formerly illegal users receive long-term property and usage rights based on lease contracts and management plans that have been developed with their own participation. This in turn motivates them to invest in the restoration of the forest resources. This component is being carried out in close collaboration with a similar project financed by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), in order to achieve better results.

Since early 2009, in cooperation with the Centre for Migration and Development (CIM), support has been given to a non-governmental organisation that promotes community-based wildlife management. In the second half of 2009, the relevance of this experience for policy-making will be magnified when cooperation begins with the National Committee for Environmental Protection.