Climate change is one of the most important challenges of our time and a global process that is happening here and now. Kyrgyzstan is one of the countries of the region most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
The negative consequences of climate processes have a serious impact on the life and everyday activities of the rural population of our country, who largely depend on natural resources and on the natural ecosystems around them. In today’s conditions, adaptation to climate change is becoming particularly important for local communities.
That is precisely why the European Union project “Jashyl Klimat” announced a competition among local communities for the best practices of adapting climate stabilisation to local conditions.
17 villages of the Issyk-Kul, Naryn and Jalal-Abad regions applied to take part in the competition among local communities to join the project as pilot communities.
Anna Kirilenko, manager of the “Jashyl Klimat” project, noted that an important direction of the project’s work is the involvement of youth and women’s groups in the development of climate initiatives, in the decisions of local self-government bodies on climate change adaptation, and in the subsequent monitoring of those decisions.
The selection of local communities was carried out according to the following criteria:
1. Location next to a specially protected natural area;
2. Harsh climatic conditions, natural disasters related to climate change, unfavourable climatic conditions from the point of view of livelihoods;
3. Environmental problems: pasture degradation, poaching and illegal logging;
4. A high level of unemployment among women and young people;
5. Poverty of the population;
6. Access to drinking and irrigation water;
7. A high dependence of the population on natural resources;
8. The readiness of communities to create new jobs;
9. The presence of active youth and women’s groups (aged 16 to 35);
10. Previous experience of mobilising and implementing social and environmental projects in the community;
11. The readiness of communities to reduce the human pressure on the environment;
12. The ability of communities to organise themselves and solve local problems.
Azat Alamanov, expert of the “Jashyl Klimat” project, noted that a problem common to all the villages that applied for the competition is the high level of migration and unemployment. Another important factor is the high dependence of the population on natural resources. Environmental problems such as the shortage of irrigation water, pasture degradation, illegal logging, droughts, landslides and mudflows only aggravate the already difficult social and economic situation of the population.
The applications received were reviewed by a commission of national and international experts, and 6 villages were selected as pilot local communities:
— the village of Uch-Koshkon, Jeti-Oguz district;
— the village of Kyzyl-Kol, Aksy district;
— the village of Kok-Sai, Ton district;
— the village of Ichke-Jergez, Ak-Suu district;
— the village of Tash-Bashat, Naryn district;
— the village of Oruk-Tam, Naryn district.
The “Jashyl Klimat” project congratulates the winners of the competition among local communities for the best practices of adapting climate stabilisation to local conditions!
The project «Jashyl Klimat — Youth Resilience to Climate Change» is implemented under the overall coordination of the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature, in partnership with the Ecological Movement «BIOM» and the Public Association «GLIP», with the financial support of the European Union.
