Walnut and coniferous forests of western Tian Shan expanded by 300 hectares

Over 200 thousand seedlings of walnut, pistachio, larch, pine, and the Tian Shan spruce replenished the forest fund of Aksy, Toktogul and Toguz-Toro Forestries. These are the preliminary outputs of the three-year efforts of the UNDP-GEF project to restore degraded forests and expand the forest areas of ​​the Western Tian Shan.

The expansion of forest areas will reduce the ongoing degradation of endemic spruce and other walnut and coniferous species in the Western Tian Shan, which suffer from the uncontrolled collection of non-timber forest products and firewood.

“Forest restoration is an effective solution to combat the climate change impacts, improve the living standards of the local population, safeguard the biodiversity and prevent erosion,” Batyrbekuulu Askar, engineer at the Toguz-Toro forestry lists the benefits of the reforestation.

The restoration of degraded forests is carried out under the five-year project on protecting the biodiversity of the Western Tian Shan, which is funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and implemented by UNDP and the State Agency for Environmental Protection and Forestry (SAEPF). With the assistance of national and local partners, SAEPF and UNDP are planning to undertakesilvicultural reforestation work in the area of ​​500 hectares and regenerateapproximately 5 thousand hectares of degraded forests in the Western Tian Shan as corridors for the wildlife, including the snow leopard and its prey base.

In order to better protect young seedlings from cattle, Aksy, Toktogul and Toguz-Toro Forestries fenced the forest plot with a wire. As a result, a total of nearly 170 hectares of forest range are currently fenced. In the forthcoming months, it is expected to fence the plots with a total area of ​​60 hectares.

“If earlier we planted trees far from settlements to prevent the cattle from approaching the plots, the present walnut plots are located near the villages, since we have fenced them, and it is easier for local residents to get and take care of the trees. It is worth noting that the fence is temporary, and it can be dismantled and reused on new forest lands every three years,” says PanarbekZhabaikulov, director of the Aksy Forestry.

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The “Conservation of globally important biodiversity and associated land and forest resources of Western Tian Shan mountain ecosystems to support sustainable livelihoods” Project is implemented by the SAEPF and UNDP with the support of the GEF and aims to promote a landscape approach to protection of globally significant biodiversity, promoting the conservation of rare and endangered species of flora and fauna, as well as the sustainable management of land and forest resources of the Western Tian Shan.