FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia

Kyrgyzstan sees opportunity in Green Climate Fund

28/03/2017

By pooling the ideas and knowledge of technical experts, partners, and concerned national institutions, Kyrgyzstan aims to prepare a high-quality proposal for financing by the Green Climate Fund. A three-day national facilitation workshop on Green Climate Fund readiness and project formulation – hosted and organized by Kyrgyzstan’s State Agency on environmental Protection and Forestry and FAO – opens today at the Park Hotel in Bishkek.

The main objectives are to brief participants on the Green Climate Fund, review climate change impact and trends in the country, identify gaps and lessons learned, and set priorities for the formulation of a proposal to the Green Climate Fund.

The country’s Ministry of Emergency Situations, Ministry of Agriculture, Food Industry and Melioration of the Kyrgyz Republic, and the State Agency on Environmental Protection and Forestry will take part in the workshop.

International and national partners, such as UNDP, WFP, World Bank, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ, Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), National Statistical Committee, civil society groups and academia will also contribute to the discussion. The Green Climate Fund Secretariat will participate, along with FAO technical experts from Ankara, Budapest and Rome.

“Kyrgyzstan is putting serious efforts into addressing climate change and the GCF facility should enable the country to finance some of the most urgently needed actions for climate resilience,” said Dorjee Kinlay, FAO Representative in the Kyrgyz Republic. “FAO, along with other UN agencies and development partners, is assisting the government in programming and preparedness for accessing this important source of climate finance.”

“FAO’s contribution will be mainly through its sustainable food and agriculture framework,” Kinlay added, “which is very well integrated with most of the Sustainable Development Goals.”

“Global climate change is the key challenge for ecological security which is why it is going to be at the center of our national development strategy,” said Abdykalyk Rustamov, who heads Kyrgyzstan’s State Agency on Environmental Protection and Forestry. “We are thankful for the support from UN agencies and other international organizations, and will ensure that all possible measures are taken to address climate change, related environmental protection, and the rational use of natural resources.”

Using a participatory approach, the workshop is expected to produce the first draft of a proposal for Green Climate Fund funding. The proposal will highlight areas of concern where agricultural and food-security technical expertise is needed.

The Green Climate Fund was established in 2010 in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as a mechanism to assist developing countries with adaptation and mitigation actions to counter climate change. Fund resources go to low-emission and climate-resilient projects and programmes in countries that are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

28 March 2017, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan