PALM

The PALM project is a transboundary initiative of the governments of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It aims to restore, sustain, and enhance the productive and protective functions of the trans-boundary ecosystems of the High Pamir and Pamir-AlaiMountains.

To address the interlinked problems of poverty and land degradation in these mountains, the project aims to improve the social and economic well-being of the rural communities and households utilizing the region’s resources to meet their livelihood needs, while preserving its unique landscape and globally important biodiversity.  

The project is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and a consortium of more than 15 national and international partners. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) is the GEF Implementing agency for the project. It is responsible for project oversight, monitoring and reporting back to GEF on project performance and expenditures.  

The United Nations University (UNU) is the International Executing Agency. It is responsible, following the UNEP/GEF project document, for the successful implementation of the project through proper coordination, management, supervision and financial and administrative procedures in line with GEF and UNEP rules. 

PALM Newsletter issue 1&2/2011

Time Span

2007-2012

Key Goals

The overall goal of the project is to restore, sustain, and enhance, the productive and protective functions of the trans-boundary ecosystems of the High Pamir and Pamir-Alai Mountains, of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, so as to improve the social and economic well-being of the rural communities and households utilizing the region's ecosystem resources to meet their livelihood needs, while preserving its unique landscape and globally important biodiversity.

The project has two main objectives concerning development and environmental aspects:

• Development Objective: To address the link between poverty, vulnerability and land degradation through the promotion of sustainable land management practices that contribute to improving the livelihoods and economic well-being of the inhabitants of the High Pamir and Pamir-AlaiMountains.

• Environmental Objective: To mitigate the causes and negative impacts of land degradation on the structure and functional integrity of the ecosystems of the High Pamir and Pamir-Alai Mountains through mainstreaming sustainable land management tools and practices from household, community, local government, national and regional levels .

In view of the project goal and objectives, project activities are designed to lead to the realization of the following expected outcomes:

1. Enhanced regional cooperation between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan creating the enabling regional strategic planning, and national legislative, policy, institutional, technical, and economic incentive, environment, for the sustainable management of the High Pamir and Pamir-Alai mountain ecosystems. 

2. Improved capacity of Tajikistan's and Kyrgyzstan's public and private sector agency research and advisory support service providers to promote sustainable land management within the High Pamir and Pamir-AlaiMountains.

3. Reduction in rural poverty and economic vulnerability through restoration and enhancement of the productive and protective functions (ecological goods and services) of the High Pamir and Pamir-Alai mountain ecosystems.

4. Generic guidelines developed for up-scaling and replication of the lessons learnt, from the project's experience with sustainable land management, within comparable trans-boundary mountain regions within Asia and elsewhere.

Working Methods

• Transboundary Cooperation: Interdisciplinary teams consisting of experts from both countries are working on (i) a trans-boundary sustainable land management strategy and action plan prepared for the entire High Pamir and Pamir-Alai Mountains region, as well as on (ii) an improved enabling legal and regulatory framework in place for the sustainable and equitable management, and utilisation, of the ecosystem resources of the High Pamir and Pamir-Alai mountain region.

• Capacity -Building: The project provides grants for public and private sector agencies to pursue research, advisory and planning support services for sustainable land management activities for mountain communities, farmers and herders as well as forest and wildlife resource users within the High Pamir and Pamir-AlaiMountains. In addition, a wide variety of training activities such as awareness raising on land degradation, land use planning, technologies for improved soil fertility etc. are offered to local farmers, government planners, policy makers and other officials with responsibility for economic development, environmental preservation and land use.

• Participatory Field Level Interventions: On selected sub-district units – six in Tajikistan, four in Kyrgyzstan- , activities focusing on the development of innovative approaches to sustainable land management, involving community-based land use planning will be implemented. Field level activities will be directed at assessing the degradation status of the ecosystem resources of individual sub-district units, and then assisting each one to plan and implement a series of sustainable land management micro-projects with the potential to not only combat land degradation but also raise rural household incomes and alleviate poverty.