Online, 23 July 2026 – Representatives of the Scientific-Information Center of the Interstate Commission on Sustainable Development (SIC ICSD) participated in the webinar entitled “Introduction to Green Climate Fund (GCF) Project Development and Presentation of AFoCO’s Central Asia Regional Project Concept”, jointly organized by the Secretariat of the Asian Forest Cooperation Organization (AFoCO) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The event brought together approximately 15 representatives of government institutions and national partner organizations from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Participants of the online meeting. Photocredit to organizers of the event.
The webinar aimed to present the concept of a new regional AFoCO project for Central Asia and to solicit technical feedback and recommendations from the participating countries. Particular emphasis was placed on identifying regional priorities and developing a shared vision for a future multi-country initiative designed to strengthen climate resilience across ecosystems and communities in Central Asia.
Proposed regional project is aimed at the landscape restoration offers a unique opportunity to address multiple development and environmental challenges simultaneously, including strengthening water security, restoring degraded ecosystems, enhancing the resilience of natural landscapes to climate change, improving rural livelihoods, and promoting climate-resilient natural resource management. The proposed initiative is intended to support integrated landscape restoration as a means of generating synergies between climate change adaptation, biodiversity conservation, land degradation neutrality and sustainable socio-economic development throughout the region.
The webinar reaffirmed the strong interest of Central Asian countries in developing joint regional initiatives that enhance climate resilience, promote sustainable landscape restoration, conserve natural resources and expand access to international climate finance. The comments and recommendations provided by participating countries will be taken into account by AFoCO during the further development of the regional project concept.
The event supports the achievement of:
| Priority Area No 4 dedicated to SDG 13: “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts” |
| 4.2 Preparation and implementation of regional programs and projects financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), Green Climate Fund (GCF) and other donor agencies. |
| Priority area No 6 of REP4SD dedicated to SDG 17: “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development” |
| 6.2 Strengthening of cooperation among international organizations and regional and national institutions for better access to new technologies, preparation of legal and regulatory frameworks, development and implementation of national and regional strategies and plans and development of sustainable financing opportunities. |