Forest Monitoring in the Caucasus and Central Asia

Strengthening forest monitoring in the Caucasus and Central Asia was implemented through the capacity-building project "Accountability Systems for Sustainable Forest Management", which was funded by the United Nations Development Account (UNDA), under the 10th tranche. The timeframe of the project was initially 2016-2019 but has been extended with additional resources until September 2020.
The objective of this project was to strengthen the national capacity of five target countries (Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan) to develop national criteria and indicators (C&I) and reporting, or accountability systems, for sustainable forest management (SFM).
The project enabled the target countries to actively participate in international processes related to forests, and contribute to the sustainable development of the sector towards a green economy. National criteria and indicators for SFM will serve as a tool to communicate the relevance of forests as they relate to the environment as well as a socio-economic situation at national, regional and international levels.

The key recipients were forest-related ministries, national forest agencies, research institutes, and NGOs. The project was carried out with key partners including other international organizations or initiatives already operating in the countries (e.g. FAO, German development cooperation GIZ, United Nations Environment Programme UNEP, Global Environment Facility GEF). The implementation of the project has been led by experts from the UNECE/FAO Forestry and Timber Section.

Study

The main results of the project are presented in a study on forest reporting and sustainable forest management (SFM) in Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The publication was developed by the Joint UNECE/FAO Forestry and Timber Section in cooperation with international experts. In addition to the general overview of forest reporting, the study introduces national sets of criteria and indicators (C&I) for sustainable forest management developed by the five project countries. Furthermore, the study shares best practices in developing and using C&I for SFM.

Main Results

National sets of criteria and indicators for Sustainable Forest Management (as of 9.12.2020)

• Armenia
• Georgia
• Kazakhstan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Uzbekistan

Publications

• Guidelines for the Development of a Criteria and Indicator Set for Sustainable Forest Management

Policy briefs