Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are launching a €264.4 million programme to restore degraded landscapes and make rural areas more resilient to climate change, reported the Ecology news agency (NIA Ekologiya).
The programme, Climate-Resilient Landscapes of Central Asia (CLiCA), was presented at the COP31 conference in Antalya on November 9. It is funded by the German government and the Green Climate Fund, whose board approved it on October 28. Germany’s GIZ will implement it with national partners over seven years, and the European Investment Bank may join later.
The targets are:
- making more than 1 million people more resilient to climate risks;
- restoring or introducing sustainable management on almost 1 million hectares of land;
- reducing emissions or absorbing about 6.95 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.
Uzbekistan’s share is €103.7 million. It will be used to restore 18,000 hectares of forest and 123,000 hectares of pasture, expand drip irrigation and drought-resistant crops, and advise 12,000 farmers on climate adaptation.
Land degradation is one of Central Asia’s most serious environmental problems. Overgrazing, deforestation and the shrinking of the Aral Sea have damaged soils and livelihoods across the region. The programme is one of the largest climate adaptation projects shared by several Central Asian countries.
CentralasianLIGHT.org,
November 11, 2026