November 22, a meeting was held at the Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Protected Areas with the participation of the BIOFIN-UNDP team and the CAREC team. The meeting was attended by the Director of the Department of Protected areas, Azamat Kenjebaev, the manager of the BIOFIN Initiative in Kyrgyzstan, Miragul Kochkorova, and Director of the Country Office of the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia in the Kyrgyz Republic (CAREC CO in KR), Kuban Matraimov, experts from the CAREC and specialists from the Department.
The main topics of the meeting were the results of the project “Feasibility study of an effective system of financial self-sufficiency of protected areas (PA)” implemented by the Branch of the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan and the following preliminary areas of support of the BIOFIN Initiative in Kyrgyzstan for Protected areas of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Director of the CAREC CO in KR Kuban Matraimov presented the main results of the project and recommendations for the successful implementation of the selected new financing mechanisms to protected areas. Six mechanisms for improving the financing of protected areas have been identified and agreed upon:
- well-organized and scientifically substantiated ecological tourism in terms of the risks of anthropogenic harm (including a possible increase in the fee for visiting, an increase in the flow of tourists through cooperation with tourism business associations and companies, the provision of additional tourism services, improved administration and organization of collecting fees for visiting, etc.);
- Increasing the income of state natural parks from permitted economic activities;
- Attracting grants from international and domestic organizations for projects related to improving the infrastructure of protected areas, preserving biodiversity, conducting scientific research and recording flora and fauna;
- Regulating issues of income from land leases in state natural parks through amendments to regulatory legal acts;
- Use of funds from Regional Development Funds (oblasts and regions) through the preparation of high-quality project applications;
- Initiatives of programs to support protected areas: thematic goods, “biodiversity conservation certificates”, crowdfunding and specialized lotteries.
“The implementation of some financing mechanisms requires amendments to existing decrees of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, and these amendments are provided to the Department in the final report,” noted Kuban Matraimov, Director of the CAREC CO in KR.
The Director of the Department of Protected Areas, Azamat Kenjebaev, voiced directions for future cooperation, which were supported by the BIOFIN Initiative and the CAREC Fund. For the successful implementation of the new selected financing mechanisms, the following is necessary:
- Develop a unified methodology for calculating the “entry fee to a protected area” that will take into account the specific features of each protected area;
- Develop a methodology for calculating the tourist load on the territory of a protected area depending on the type of protected area;
- Develop a methodology for the use of pasture resources and hayfields of state natural parks;
- Increasing the potential of specialists of the Department and all protected areas, with a special emphasis on the preparation of project applications, accounting, high-quality completion of Protocols of violations in protected areas, inventory of flora and fauna;
- Optimize the staff of each protected area and the Department by hiring employees for ecotourism, ranger guides, and flora and fauna records;
Following the meeting, the above proposals of the Department will be discussed at a meeting of the BIOFIN Coordination Council, where final decisions will be made.
Additional information:
Kuban Matraimov, Director of the CAREC CO in KR, kmatraimov @ carececo .org
