The Council Board of the project "Supporting Climate Resilient Livelihoods in Agricultural Communities in Drought-prone Areas of Turkmenistan", implemented by the State Committee for Environmental Protection and Land Resources in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) held a meeting to analyze the results of work in January June, 2018.
In the framework of the project, the assistance in developing and implementing the Adaptation Plans is provided in four targeted agricultural communities in Lebap and Dashoguz velayats for agriculture and water sectors management.
The working group members, including the deputies of the National Parliament, the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, the National Committee for Hydrometeorology, the Dayhanbank as well as the etrap and velayat administration exchanged their views on the results achieved and mapped out the action plans.
According to Project Manager Amangul Ovezberdieva, the work on the organization of resource centers to provide informational and consultancy support to the peasants continues.The main part of the annual budget of the project is invested into modern irrigation technologies, the purchase of pumping equipment, a transformer, two sets for laser land grading and the construction of a power transmission line in the Karakum livestock farm and the Parahat Peasant Association.
The meeting participants underlined the importance of intensifying cooperation with local experts and delivering trainings on high-tech equipment. Under the guidance of project consultants, the software AquaCrop, ClimWat, EToCalculator, Emotion Ltd. is studied to optimize the water consumption and increase the efficiency of fields.
One of the aspects of the project is to provide assistance to the improvement of the national water and land legislation, in particular, the elaboration of the provisions on the procedures for the state land cadastre, soil assessment, the economic evaluation of irrigated lands, and various regulatory documents.
The work on the amendments to the Laws of Turkmenistan "On the Peasant Associations" and "On the Peasant Farms" is continuing.
The representative of the State Committee, the head of the International Relations and Planning Department, Berdy Berdyev expressed satisfaction with the long-term cooperation with UNDP on the implementation of several long-term projects in the field of climate change, land degradation, biodiversity protection.
The project “Addressing climate change risks to farming systems in Turkmenistan at the national and community level”, financed by the Adaptation Fund, was completed last year.A joint project on the climate sustainable development of cities will start soon with the financial support of the GEF.
A number of programmes are under development, including those related to climate risks and private sector activities in the livestock segment.
Acting Deputy of the UNDP Resident Representative in Slobodan Tadic, who positively assessed the effectiveness of the project activities to support agricultural communities, attended the meeting.