The more a country knows about its forests, the better it can manage and protect them for future generations.

That means having accurate data on everything from forest coverage to soil fertility, from tree health to natural habitats for flora and fauna. It also means understanding how forest resources are used, by whom and why.

With this in mind, the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic sought assistance from FAO to strengthen national capacity for monitoring and assessing the country's forest and land resources.

Forest benefits

Forest coverage is relatively modest in the mountainous Kyrgyz Republic − roughly 5.6 percent of the country.

Yet more than one million of the nation's 5.5 million people live in or near forests, relying on wood for heating and construction. For many households, walnuts, pistachios and fruit, such as apples, pears and plums, provide food and income.

The country's forests also play a crucial role in preventing soil erosion, mudflows, landslides and avalanches. They regulate mountain run-off so that rivers flow more evenly throughout the year − important in Central Asia where farming relies heavily on irrigation.

But decades of overuse, including intensive livestock grazing, particularly during Soviet times, have taken a toll on the country's natural resources. Logging, as well as fires to clear land for farming or pasture, have damaged or destroyed forest cover.

In addition to degrading soils and habitats, these activities release carbon dioxide and other harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, said Dinara Rakhmanova, Assistant FAO Representative in Kyrgyzstan.

"Sustainable forest management is a new notion for the Kyrgyz Republic," she said. "With this project we've made a big effort to raise awareness among local communities on the importance of saving the biological and landscape diversity, as well as the environmental functions and the aesthetic and recreational values of existing forests."

Filling information gaps

Before the project, the country had an incomplete picture of its forest resources. In 2005, national surveying crews had inventoried about 60 percent of the state-administered forests, leaving a significant information gap.

Inventories focused mainly on timber production rather than on the multiple ways forests benefit local communities − environmentally, socially and economically.

The project helped the Government carry out a national forest inventory on all forest types and land properties. It was done in two phases, in partnership with the State Agency for Environmental Protection and Forestry and with additional funding from the Government of Kyrgyzstan and the Swiss-Kyrgyz Forestry Support Programme. The effort brought together people involved in forest and tree resource management in civil society, NGOs, forest services, scientists, line ministries and international partners.

Building national capacity

More than 50 staff from the country’s Department of Forest, Hunting and Ground Inventory received training on national forest management assessments, including analysing, managing and disseminating collected data.

A national forest vegetation and land use classification system for remote-sensing surveys was developed. In addition, FAO and the Department  worked closely to design a database to store and manage information from the forest and land assessments.

The project team published findings from the assessment in both Russian and English to help get the word out on the state of the country's forests and natural resources.

One of the biggest achievements of the TCP was in strengthening country-level capacity, and galvanizing support, according to Dan Altrell, FAO forestry officer and lead technical officer for the project. "There's strong national ownership," he said. "The Republic had very few means, but they were driving this project, making new partnerships and alliances to support the inventory."

The project's results served as a baseline for a national forest policy to 2025, developed by the Government in consultation with local authorities and communities.

It also served as baseline information for several new FAO projects. One, worth about US$ 5.5 million, is funded by the Global Environment Facility for sustainable management of Kyrgyzstan’s mountain forest and land resources under climate change conditions. A German-funded project, valued at US$ 5 million, targets 18 countries including Kyrgyzstan to improve national forest monitoring and information systems in connection with REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation).

Keeping the momentum going is crucial. That means having the wherewithal to repeat such national assessments regularly and to be able to generate and manage new data. The country continues to face big environmental challenges, like erosion, that cut across sectors and that require an integrated approach.

There is a need, for example, to find a better balance between livestock breeding − an important livelihood source in the Republic − and sustainable natural resource management.

"These types of assessments are important because they provide good information for decision-making not just on forestry but on agriculture, livestock and water management," said Altrell.

26 February 2015, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan