Местные сообщества обучились управлению пастбищами Гослесфонда

Local communities trained in the management of the State Forestry Fund's pastures

How to sustainably manage and use State Forest Fund (SFF) pastures for livestock grazing.These issues were discussed at the trainings organised by CAMP Alatoo PF for representatives of Naryn and At-Bashi forestry, zhayit committees and residents of Zhergetal ayil aimag of Naryn oblast. More than 40 people took part in the training.

Before the beginning of the pasture season, building the capacity of local communities in the field of resource use became particularly important. Therefore the main objective of the trainings was to find out the acute problems faced by forestry staff, jaiyt committees, farmers and shepherds in pasture use, to identify ways and technologies for sustainable management as well as to analyse the grazing and resource use plans that are made annually in the forestry and aiyl okmotus.During the workshops, the speakers used the brainstorming method to identify the difficulties. By answering leading questions, the participants voiced the reasons hampering an efficient "pasture" process. As it turned out, there were similar problems in the forestry farms and the ayil district of Jergetal. According to the participants, due to the deplorable condition of the bridges and roads users do not have access to the highland pastures.The committees responsible for such issues do not have the necessary human and financial resources and avoid cooperation with the forestry sector. On the contrary, disputes often arise between the committees and the forestry administration over the use of pastures and the payment of the forest ticket. In addition to internal factors, the situation is complicated by climate change, which has increased droughts in the region and livestock are not getting enough forage on pastures.

Participants were then asked to work on possible ways to change the situation by analysing the impact of grazing pressure on the number and type of livestock grazing on the forest estate and the appropriateness of the grazing fee. In addition, the grazing and resource use plans were modified to take into account the recommendations of the trainers to reduce the number of livestock in high stress areas.

As far as pasture infrastructure is concerned, the local communities can help themselves with the active assistance of the CAMP Alatoo PF. After a joint discussion on plans for improving pasture conditions, participants were presented with a model project proposal for requesting grant funding for the rehabilitation or construction of infrastructure.As the speakers told us, the applications had to meet such criteria as public participation in the work on the facility, cost-effectiveness, real cost, etc. This part of the training sessions resulted in 9 project proposals involving the construction of bridges in forestry, the installation of splits and fencing in pastures.  After studying the proposals submitted by CAMP Alatoo PF specialists, three of them will receive financial support from the project.

Another topic of training was the Grazing Response Index (GRI) methodology, which local shepherds were recommended to implement.

The trainings were conducted by the Kyrgyzstan Pasture and Natural Resource Management project supported by the US Forest Service (USFS).