News
The five Central Asian countries are among the most vulnerable to climate change in Eurasia, and building resilience to climate’s mounting impacts is a priority for poverty reduction and shared prosperity in Central Asia. Average annual temperatures across the region have increased since the mid-20th century by 0.5°C in the south to 1.6°C in the north and impacts are already being observed, from melting glaciers in upland areas (where glaciers have lost one-third of their volume since the 1900s) to droughts and floods in the lowlands (where weather-related disasters are estimated to cause economic losses from 0.4 to 1.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product per annum for Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyz Republic, for instance).
On November 3, 2015, the World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved an allocation of US$38 million from the International Development Association (IDA) to finance the first phase of the CAMP4ASB regional program. This approved financing includes US$9 million for Tajikistan, US$14 million for Uzbekistan, and US$15 million for regional activities to be implemented by the EC IFAS with support from CAREC for day-to-day regional coordination and implementation of the regional components of the project.
TARGET GROUPS:
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National counterparts, working in the area of climate resilience and sector-based development
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Local communities, including farmers, water user associations, pasture management, villagers, private companies
GLOALS AND OBJECTIVES:
To enhance regionally coordinated access to improved climate change knowledge services for key stakeholders (e.g., policy makers, communities, and civil society) in participating Central Asian countries as well as to increased investments and capacity building that, combined, will address climate challenges common to these countries.
Central Asian Climate Information Platform (CACIP) is a platform that collects and structures actual data and information on climate change adaptation and mitigation. It helps stakeholders to access, analyze, and visualize public-domain data to support improved awareness, assessment, and decision support.
CACIP covers the five Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Key target groups of CACIP include expert and scientific community as a primary group; and policy makers, civil society and farmers as a secondary group.
CACIP focuses on five climate-sensitive topics:
· Energy;
· Water resources;
· Agriculture;
· Climate-induced natural disasters;
· Health
The project consists of three components. CAREC is in charge of implementing Component 1, aimed to enhance the knowledge database and climate change capacities, and facilitate regional dialogue and cooperation between many stakeholders to ensure efficient climate response by scale. CAREC is also in charge of implementing Sub-Component 3.1, which functions to coordinate and support project implementation at the regional level. Component 2 and Sub-Component 3.2. are implemented by project participant countries (e.g., Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) which work on climate investment and capacity building in their respective countries.
Component 1 - Regional Services in the Area of Climate Knowledge. Implementation of this component will include provision of technical assistance in establishing a unified regional analytical platform to ensure sustainable climatic development in Central Asia. This approach involves development of a number of tools for data visualization, receipt of new knowledge and capacity buildup to ensure efficient decision making in the area of climate change. Component activities include:
- Strengthening the Information Platform for Central Asia;
- Targeted upgrading of climate-related monitoring systems;
- Developing methodologies, approaches, and tools for decision support;
- Developing knowledge products;
- Building capacity;
- Setting up a Climate Investment Assessment Mechanism;
- Outreach and coalition building.
CAREC is in charge of implementing Component 1 and of coordination and support for project implementation at the regional level.
Component 2 - Regional Fund of Climate Investment
National components in each country consist of two sub-components:
- Climate investment
- Capacity building and community support
Implementation of national components aims to improve performance and address climate change problems by providing assistance to investment in agriculture, land resource management and other activities which ensure sustainability of climate change. This is achieved by allocating funds and enhancing the capacity of rural communities and resource users, as well as joint planning of activities and support for implementation of climate investment plans at the community level.
The Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Tajikistan, with coordination and support for project implementation at the national level provided from the Committee for Environment Protection of the Republic of Tajikistan, is in charge of implementation of Component 2 in the Republic of Tajikistan.
The Agency for Rural Restructuring under the Ministry of Agriculture and Water of the Republic of Uzbekistan is in charge of implementation of Component 2 in the Republic of Uzbekistan. Interaction at the regional level is ensured by the Center of Hydrometeorological Service under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan (Uzgidromet).
Component 3 - Coordination at the Regional and National Level. Coordination at the regional level. As the Regional Coordination Unit (RCU), CAREC will be implementing the project at the regional level, including:
- Regular interaction with National Coordination Units (NCU) and provision of appropriate technical support;
- Assessment of national climate investment implementation in participant countries, on a semi-annual basis;
- Dissemination of the best practices and program deliverables for better planning of activities in participant countries.
Coordination at the national level. Implementation of this sub-component will include funding of operational costs of the NCU responsible for supervision of investment implementation at the national level in each participant country. Support will also be provided to the NCU to enhance coordination of activities at the national level with regards to procurement, financial management, reporting, safety compliance, and monitoring and evaluation.
The progress in achieving the CAMP4ASB goas will be evaluated by the following indicators and deliverables:
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Reaching of the share of users with a positive opinion on climate change information services provided by the Program, to the level of 60%;
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The number of national plans and programs using the Program’s information climate services, including lessons learned from climate investment, will reach 3;
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Joint activities resulting in investment funding, for collaboration between the countries. These joint activities must support the work in transboundary geographical areas or may include coordination of activities between the countries to multiply results for better adaptation to climate change. This must get reflected in the national policies;
- Mobilization of additional resources to develop knowledge and capacity and implement investment in regional climate activities thanks to enhanced coordination between the countries and organizations dealing with development in Central Asia, will reach a volume of US $ 40 million.
Executive Committee of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (EC IFAS)
Project manager – Ms. Irina Bekmirzayeva
E-mail: ibekmirzaeva@carececo.org
Tel.: +7 727 265 43 33 (ext. 186)