KHOROG, February 7, 2011, Asia-Plus — A roundtable to discuss joint management of forests in GBAO’s Roshtqala district took place in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (Gorno Badakhshan or GBAO) on February 6.
Organized by GTZ (German Agency for Technical Cooperation) Tajikistan in the framework of the project, Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in Gorno Badakhshan, the meeting brought together representatives from local authorities, foresters, forest farmers and heads of local agency for forestry to consider issues related to protection and forest regulation.
Abdulnazar Abdulnazarov, head of the GBAO agency for forestry, says the joint forest management approach has been introduced in 30 villages of Gorno Badakhshan with a total area of 1,750 hectares to date. The GBAO forestry agency has leased these woodlots to local residents on a long-term basis.
According to him, only the joint management approach allows rehabilitating poor forests of Gorno Badakhshan. “These woodlots were leased to local residents, because the forestry agency does not have enough funds for preservation and maintenance of forests, and some of them have been rehabilitated over the past two-three years,” Abdulnazarov said.
The meeting members noted that the forest farmers were not only interested in rehabilitating old and planting new forests but they were also interested in preparing firewood and gathering fruits and herbs. Incomes from selling of fruits and herbs are used not only for farmers’ private needs but also for maintenance of forests.
Forest management is the branch of forestry concerned with the overall administrative, economic, legal, and social aspects and with the essentially scientific and technical aspects, especially silviculture, protection, and forest regulation. This includes management for aesthetics, fish, recreation, urban values, water, wilderness, wildlife, wood products, forest genetic resources and other forest resource values. Management can be based on conservation, economics, or a mixture of the two. Techniques include timber extraction, planting and replanting of various species, cutting roads and pathways through forests, and preventing fire.
In 2010, specialists working with the project, Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in Gorno Badakhshan, drew up maps and defined boundaries of the leased woodlots, using GPS technology. Irrigation facilities, including 16 irrigation canals with a total length of more than 33 kilometers, have been constructed in 16 villages of Ishkashim district. Besides, they have constructed 14 embankments. The contribution of the project to construction of these facilities has amounted to more than 150,000 somoni.
The project, Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in Gorno Badakhshan, is being implemented together with the German Development Service (DED), in cooperation with the GBAO land management committee and forestry agency as well as various local partners from outside the public sector. The core of the work involves two complementary approaches: 1) by promoting energy efficiency measures, the pressure on renewable energy resources is being reduced; and 2) the restoration of the flood plains in Gorno Badakhshan. Reforestation is being achieved with the support of the forestry authorities, by introducing a forest management system that also involves the local forest users. The local, formerly illegal users receive long-term property and usage rights based on lease contracts and management plans that have been developed with their own participation. This in turn motivates them to invest in the restoration of the forest resources. This component is being carried out in close collaboration with a similar project financed by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), in order to achieve better results. Since early 2009, in cooperation with the Center for Migration and Development (CIM), support has been given to a non-governmental organization that promotes community-based wildlife management.
