On December 20, a seminar was held in Tashkent on determining the amount of carbon dioxide in the forests of Uzbekistan and monitoring it using modern technologies. The event was organized within the framework of the project “Sustainable Management of Mountain and Valley Forests of Uzbekistan”, implemented by the Forestry Agency under the Ministry of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
During the seminar, forestry specialists, research institute employees and interested parties discussed the results achieved by the project.
“The project was launched in 2018 and has covered 157,000 hectares of land to date. Based on four forestry enterprises in the Kashkadarya, Namangan and Syrdarya regions, we focused on sustainable forest management systems, pasture management, gender issues and working with women and girls, engaging young people and creating new jobs,” said Olimjon Kakhkhorov, FAO technical coordinator. “As part of the project, two important documents were adopted on the concept of forest development until 2030 and long-term land lease for up to 50 years. To date, about 10,000 new jobs have been created, more than 7,000 households have leased forest lands, new forests, pistachio groves and new plantations of medicinal plants have been established. In addition, more than 420 women have been employed,” he added .
It is worth noting that the project focuses on monitoring carbon dioxide and exhaust gases in the air using modern technologies. Questions such as how much carbon dioxide is absorbed in forestry, who monitors this, how it is carried out and what experience is available in this regard on a global scale are being studied.
“The most advanced technologies and foreign software are used for forest monitoring,” said Farhod Dehkanov, deputy director of the Yashil Loyiha design institute of the Ministry of Ecology . “In particular, we use the Czech program Field Map , which is widely used in developed countries. For this purpose, with the support of the FAO, the necessary equipment was purchased and a laboratory was created at the Yashil Loyiha design institute. In addition, the institute’s employees use all the possibilities for conducting logging operations using modern technologies,” he added.
During the seminar, participants were introduced to plans for monitoring and quantifying carbon dioxide emissions, sustainable forest management in the mountainous and valley regions of Uzbekistan. At the same time, information was provided on Uzbekistan’s climate finance initiatives and ongoing activities to assimilate carbon dioxide in the forests of Turkey.
“Foreign experts were also involved in the project. In particular, the international expert ” NAMA ” (national mitigation measures) Eduard Antoine developed a program manual for determining and monitoring the amount of carbon dioxide in the forests of Uzbekistan. This will facilitate the monitoring of carbon dioxide,” said Sanjarbek Muratov, FAO national adviser . – “As part of the project, mapping was carried out in the Pap district of the Namangan region, the Dekhkanabad and Kitab districts of the Kashkadarya region, the Syrdarya state forestry enterprise and statistical data on natural forest areas were obtained. Based on this information, sustainable forest management plans were developed in 4 forestries. This plan includes a 10-year program. The program provides detailed information on what work and in which region will be carried out,” he added.
During the event, experts made suggestions and comments.
This workshop plays an important role in the development of a project on sustainable management of mountain and valley forests in Uzbekistan and monitoring of forest carbon dioxide levels. The main objective is to create a comprehensive and reliable system for assessing and monitoring changes in forest carbon stocks. The system is designed to support the country’s broader goals of sustainable forest management and compliance with global environmental standards.
https://gov.uz/ru/eco/news/view/31066
