Meetings with communities to identify climate risks in the Fergana Valley

As part of the project “Facilitating Region-Specific Approaches to Addressing Climate and Environment-Related Risks for Socio-Economic Stability in Central Asia”, project grantees held sessions with local communities, with the technical support and participation of SIC ICWC experts.

The objective was to identify climate risks in the Fergana Valley and search for nature-based solutions.

The sessions took place in:

Karasuu and Aravan districts of Osh province and Suzak districts of Dzhalal-Abad province, Kyrgyz Republic on 5 to 7 November;

Pakhtaabad district of Andizhan province and Fergana district of Fergana province, Republic of Uzbekistan on 8 to 9 November;

Dzabbar Rasulov, Kanibadam and Asht districts of Sogd province, Republic of Tajikistan on 11 to 13 November.

Representatives of local communities, activists, and officials from local and district authorities took an active part in the sessions. SIC ICWC was represented Sherzod Muminov, Deputy Director and Project Lead, and Boris Gojenko, Project Manager. National coordinators and environmental and gender project experts also took part in the sessions in each country.

To collect and analyze community perspectives, adapted UNEP tools were used, including problem and solution trees, prioritization matrix and others. These helped to accurately identify community needs and properly assess the risks and opportunities associated with proposed solutions.

Based on the results of the sessions, grantees in each country began drafting subprojects for further review and potential implementation.