Promoting Forest Information and Communication Technology in Uzbekistan

Project Summary:

Forest ecosystems in Uzbekistan, covering 8.6% of the country’s land area (3.68 million ha), play a leading role in sustaining the well-being of rural communities. The forests also provide critical habitats for biodiversity and other essential environmental benefits such as soil protection, water regulation, and carbon sequestration. However, unfavorable natural conditions and increasing human pressures have led to vast forest degradation and loss of vegetation cover, at a scale that is unable to be accurately determined due to insufficient data. Against this backdrop, the project aims to inform the preparation and implementation of the IDA-financed Uzbekistan Resilient Landscape Restoration Project in the poor and degraded regions of Karakalpakstan, Sirdaryo, Ferghana, and Surkhondaryo. It intends to introduce a technology component in forest restoration that is currently missing in the design, in which the disruptive forest ICT will inform strategy setting and planning in the sector for the benefit of rural communities and the country’s green economy. This project is well in line with the Government of Uzbekistan’s commitment to forest and landscape restoration, as well as to the use of data-based sector management and innovative technologies to support restoration programs.   

List of Activities:

• Building a solid information basis of the status of forests and woodlands in the country to inform a national strategic plan for forest development  

• Restoring forest landscape through restoration/afforestation and multiple-use forest management 

• Enabling economic management of forest landscapes through diversified activities, including ecotourism 

Outcomes:

Output 1

• A design of a National Forest Inventory for Uzbekistan
• Indicator: A design of a state-of-the-art National Forest Inventory, recommending features, software, implementation structures, and costs, developed, addressing stakeholders’ comments

Output 2

• A Forest Ecotourism Development Plan
• Indicator: A National Forest Ecotourism Development Plan with focus on ICT developed, addressing stakeholders’ comments, and offering specific solutions for the four targeted regions

Output 3

• An analysis of disruptive technologies for agroforestry plantations
• Indicator: An analysis of disruptive agroforestry plantation technologies for forest restoration available

Outcomes    

In the three priority areas of i) Technologies for Forest Management, ii) Technologies for Forest Ecotourism, and iii) Technologies for Restoration through Agroforestry, this project resulted in improved efficiency, greater resilience, and increased competitiveness. More specifically, the grant activities provided an opportunity for the Government of Uzbekistan to design its National Forest Inventory with recommendations in features, software, and implementation structures; to develop a National Forest Ecotourism Development Plan with focus on ICT; and to analyze disruptive technologies for agroforestry plantations and forest restoration. With improved restoration and sustainable management, Uzbekistan will be able to increase its rural communities’ resilience and reduce vulnerability of social systems and ecosystems against the impacts of climate change.  

Collaboration with K-Partners and Others:

• Korea Forest Service (KFS), who provided ample advice on the design of a National Forest Inventory and data collection, processing, and dissemination technologies; on agroforestry technologies for restoration as input to the agroforestry plantation technology analysis; and on recreational forest technologies as input to the Forest Ecotourism Development Plan.
• Central Asia+ RESILAND Program's projects with co-financing of US$ 13 million from PROGREEN TF, including US$5 million to develop a regional Central Asia platform. This regional platform will facilitate cooperation and knowledge cataloguing/exchange between Central Asia countries for the effectiveness of the green growth agenda in the region, while also disseminating findings and recommendations of the KGGTF-funded reports with regional stakeholders to replicate and scale-up the knowledge in additional countries.