How are we helping countries adapt to climate change?

CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL.

Impacts of climate change – such as increased droughts or more erratic storms – threaten to undermine decades of development gains and put at risk efforts to eradicate poverty.

The main aim of our Clima East Pilots Initiative is to help countries in Central Asia, Western CIS and the Caucasus to adapt to climate change.

We want to show that intact ecosystems such as peatlands, permafrost peatlands, boreal forests and pasture lands can have a strong and cost-effective positive effect both on climate change mitigation and adaptation.

See some of our achievements below!

ARMENIA

In the Gegharkunik region, we have:

- established 34.2 hectares of new forest belts (35,000 new seedlings!)

-rehabilitated 25.8 hectares of degraded natural forest in Juniper-Oak sanctuary

- supported the natural regeneration of 7 hectares of degraded forest in Sevan National Park

- introduced rotational grazing plants for 5 communities improving the management of 7,500 hectares of pastures

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AZERBAIJAN

So far, we have:

Sowed more than 20 hectares of degraded soil with seeds;

Completed more than 12 demonstration plots with plantings and erosion prevention measures.

And established rotational grazing systems for 16 farms of approximately 3000 hectares.

By the end of the initiative, we will have restored more than 3000 hectares of summer pastures.

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BELARUS

So far we have:

Cleaned 714 hectares of land of all fen vegetation (that’s 140,6% of our yearly plan!)

Harvested 1,800 tons of dry wood and 0,9 tons of reed.

GEORGIA

We’ve prepared sustainable pasture management plans for 16,000 hectares of pastures within Vashlovani National Park;

Installed 2 water supply systems (with total length of about 30 km) with 5 watering points in total, which will have a direct impact for 15 farms constructed to reduce pressures on Vashlovani Protected Areas from sheep movement;

Organised 2 pilot farms in Vashlovani National Park;

Installed 2 automatic meteorological stations and their connection to national meteorology-system;

Established a unified veterinary system for Tush shepherds, which will cover around 5,000 sheep in the beginning with possibility of up-scaling to 30,000 in the future.

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MOLDOVA

We’ve developed pasture and forest management plans for 18 communities from Orhei National Park region.

That’s a total of 1392 hectares of community forests and 5800 hectares of community pasturelands.

We’ve also supported afforestation of 150 hectares of degraded lands using native climate resilient species and restored 472 hectares of pasturelands.

Our work has impacted more than 20,800 people: improving livelihoods and reducing their vulnerability to climate change impact.

It is estimated that within a 20-year period, over 947738,7 tons of carbon dioxide will have been either sequestered or avoided.

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NORTHERN RUSSIA

As a result of our work, over a 20-year period:

About 96 t/ha CO2 equivalent will be sequestered in permafrost peatlands;

Carbon cycle estimation can be developed for 420,563 hectares of permafrost peatland ecosystems;

Approx. 21,000 hectares of vulnerable permafrost ecosystems will improve resilience of communities in Northern Russia;

35,000 inhabitants will have improved livelihoods through direct economic benefits resulting from our activities.

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SOUTHERN RUSSIA

Mapped over 5000 peatlands in forest-steppe zone of European Russia with the total area over 350 thousand hectares

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UKRAINE

We have

- cleaned 12 km of the magisterial channel, repairing 4 sluices and 12 tube crossings at irrigation system Smolyanka

- registered 6,000 hectares of Smolyanka as Regional Landscape Park “Nizhynskiy,” which will help protect over 40 endangered species

Over the 20-year period we expect to prevent 230,000 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions from releasing into the air.

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The Clima East initiative is funded by the European Union for a total of 11 million Euros.

It is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).