Building climate resilience
In Tajikistan, temperatures are rising and precipitation patterns are shifting, with periods of drought becoming more frequent and intense. These changes pose a particular threat to rainfed agricultural cropping and rangeland productivity in the country’s mountainous areas, with significant impacts on ecosystems, rural livelihoods and the overall economy.
FAO and IFAD jointly designed the Community-based Agriculture Support Programme “Plus”, known as CASP+, to help the country’s rural populations cope with these challenges. Building on successful ongoing and past practices, CASP+ aims to mobilize climate finance from GCF and IFAD to assist Tajikistan in moving towards climate-adaptive food systems and lower emission sustainable development pathways. IFAD submitted the USD 80 million project for GCF financing in 2021.
Using ground and remote-sensing data, the design team conducted a detailed and innovative climate change vulnerability analysis, focusing on exposure to climate change variables, sensitivity and the adaptive capacity of livelihoods and ecosystems. These vulnerability analyses pointed to higher adaptation needs in Tajikistan’s rural mountainous areas, where people rely more on livestock for their livelihoods.
CASP+ will promote climate-sensitive investments at community level and improved market linkages along with a better enabling environment and the use of geospatial data for an effective ecosystems approach. The project, in line with the Government’s long-term climate change adaptation priorities and national commitments, is expected to increase the resilience of around 650 000 people in 21 targeted districts. It will contribute to the sequestration of an estimated 7.5 million tonnes of CO2eq from improved rangeland and forest management, afforestation and improved herd management. This climate-focused and youth-sensitive project will also provide leadership training to women to increase their self-confidence in community representation and household decision-making. Overall, some 2.9 million rural people, about 30 percent of the country’s population, stand to benefit directly and indirectly from CASP+.