Members of the National Engagement Strategy (NES) Kyrgyzstan explores the principles of green economy to help mitigate climate change and empower farmers in the country's rural areas.
On November 15, 2019, the Kyrgyz Association of Forest and Land Users (KAFLU), together with the Aarhus Center in Bishkek, with the support of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and NES Kyrgyzstan platform held a roundtable meeting on the theme "Development of rural regions in Kyrgyzstan in accordance with the principles of green economy in the context of climate change". The event was part of the "Green Economy Week", a week-long conference supported by the Ministry of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic that is dedicated to sharing ideas and available tools that help reduce potential risks and ensure adaptation to climate change.
The main purpose of the Round Table was to raise awareness of sustainable development in rural areas and open a dialogue with government agencies, the public and international organisations. The discussion heard that in the times of climate change, there was a need to align the development of agricultural and forest sectors with the principles of green economy.
Participants agreed that in order to successfully empower rural communities, we must take into account the damaging impacts of climate change and adapt to the consequences. Mitigating climate change in the context of Kyrgyz society can be done by focusing on the following areas:
- Implementing agroforestry as the way to address food security
- It is necessary to improve the legal framework in agroforestry and forest management. The adoption of relevant laws and regulations would eventually transform the country's agrarian and forest sectors and ensure their economic sustainability without harming the environment
- Intersectoral and inter departmental cooperation needs to be developed to coordinate efforts and transfer the latest technology
- Incentive measures are needed from the state, including financial support, which is designed to facilitate the introduction of new technologies and the transition to low-carbon production
- One third of Kyrgyzstan’s forests outside the State Forest Fund (SFF) are still not owned by any entity. This means that there is no regulatory framework for forest management nor the delineation of property rights and responsibilities of all stakeholders
- It is necessary to determine the standards of competence and responsibility of local institutions (district administrations, leshoz, ayil ѳkmѳt, ayil kenesh and jaiyt committee) on issues of sustainable forest and land management
Story originally written by NES Kyrgyzstan and edited by ILC Asia