The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Ministry of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) signed a Letter of Intent at the high-level plenary session, “Nature Knows No Borders: Working Together for Migratory Species and Sustainable Development in Central Asia”. This event took place in Samarkand as part of the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP14).
The Letter of Intent was signed by Daniel Gustafson, Special Representative of the FAO Director General, Aziz Abdukhakimov, Minister of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and Grethel Aguilar, Director General of the IUCN.
By signing this document, the parties have committed to continuing their collaboration and expediting the preparation of a Letter of Agreement for the joint implementation of the “Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration Impact Program in Uzbekistan”. This program is part of the Global FOLUR Impact Program and is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Its goal is to introduce effective land management technologies and conservation approaches in wheat-dominated production landscapes and to create environmentally friendly value chains, in order to transition from ecosystem degradation to sustainable management. The project is currently being carried out in Karakalpakstan, Kashkadarya, and Khorezm regions of Uzbekistan.
In order to achieve the project’s objectives, IUCN will conduct an analysis of current land use and management practices, restoration potential, and Public Private Producer Partnerships in the target areas, using the IUCN Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM), the IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions, and the IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas. Based on this assessment, IUCN will develop solutions for landscape restoration and sustainable land management in the target regions, which will be tested, documented, and showcased in the project’s second year.
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