UNEP works with partners to help the Kyrgyz Republic build capacities to use remote-sensed data and GIS mapping

The United Nations Environment Programme has launched activities to help build capacity and transfer technology to empower the Kyrgyz Republic to map and assess environmental change. This is part of the ‘Capacity development and technology transfer to improve the generation and use of data and information in support of monitoring the environment in Central Asia’ project, which is being implemented with help from the Russian Federation.

The project will provide the Kyrgyz Republic with access to full land cover and land use categorization and mapping of their respective territories, including terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and information from existing monitoring networks. This will inform national State of Environment Reports, sustainable management of natural resources, address transboundary environmental issues, as well as reporting to the Sustainable Development Goals and major Multilateral Environmental Agreements.

The State Committee on Ecology and Climate of the Kyrgyz Republic and UNEP convened a Virtual National Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on 27 May 2021. The event was supported by the project partners - Moscow State University and the Institute of Geography, Russian National Academy of Sciences.

The workshop focused on presenting the project objectives and approach, as well as on a national stocktaking and the identification of national priorities. The stakeholder consultation will allow the project to accommodate national specificities into the activities that will be carried out and to contribute towards data collection and the establishment of an environmental baseline for the Kyrgyz republic. The workshop furthermore considered the project roadmap, key activities and next steps, such as the launch of training activities to be carried out in the Kyrgyz Republic.