Terminal evaluation of the project "Sustainable management of mountainous forest and land resources under climate change conditions"

Book excerpt: The project was designed to address the following interlinked barriers preventing sustainable land and forest management outcomes and building resilience to climate change in Kyrgyz mountain ecosystems: inadequate legal framework for sustainable forest and land management, inadequate land tenure reforms, outdated approaches to sustainable forest and land management, and limited capacity of local institutions. The project’s overall objective is to enhance the enabling environment in the forestry and agricultural sectors and sustain the flow of ecosystem services, including enhancement of carbon stocks in forests and agro-ecosystems through the sustainable management and enhanced productivity of mountainous silvo-agro-pastoral ecosystems, and to improve productivity and mountain livelihoods in the Kyrgyz Republic. Overall, the evaluation rated the project as “moderately satisfactory”, with several examples of positive new approaches introduced by the project into forestry, agriculture and pasture management. The evaluation included specific recommendations not only to FAO, but also to the national forestry service. One of the innovative recommendations is to revisit the project sites in five to ten years to check certain success factors, such as the tree survival rates.