On the 3rd of November of this year, a validation workshop was held in Ashgabat to confirm the previously proposed concept, model, and roadmap for improving monitoring systems in agriculture, forestry, and other land use.
The event was held as part of the German society for international cooperation (GIZ) regional program «Integrated land management with climate change in Central Asia». National coordinator Gulnar Mergenova explained that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss two documents developed by a group of national experts: a model for improving the natural resource monitoring system and a draft roadmap (list of measures).
Representatives of key agencies served as keynote speakers, presenting the current state of environmental sectors and substantiating their proposals. Regarding biodiversity conservation, Jumamyrat Saparmyradov, PhD in biology and scientific secretary of the National Institute of deserts, flora, and fauna of the Ministry of environmental protection and a representative of the UN Framework convention on biodiversity, presented the results of the analytical work conducted. Govshut Shadurdyyev, deputy head of the land resources service of the Ministry of Agriculture, outlined measures to ensure effective land resource monitoring, including for agricultural purposes. Guljemal Gurbanmammedova, senior researcher at the Forest and pasture laboratory of the NIDFF spoke about the need to improve the forestry information system.
Each message was followed by discussions in multi-sectoral groups, which allowed for an exchange of opinions to finally complement and improve the action plan.
Among the ideas discussed was the creation of agro-ecological information and consulting centres that could be used by urban landscapers, forestry ecologists, agriculturalists, scientists, and industrialists.
Forestry is a labour-intensive, long-term endeavour that is focused on future results, - emphasised foremost forester of the country, Akmyrat Atamyradov. - And monitoring what was created in previous decades and what was planted recently is crucial, especially for preserving biocenoses and biodiversity.
Afforestation in the harsh continental arid climate of Turkmenistan is characterised by the slow pace of reclamation of degraded land and vegetation, with little immediate success. Plants often grow in two seasons, interrupted by months of hot weather, and grow their aboveground mass extremely slowly. A case in point is the Turkmen juniper, a long-lived coniferous tree native to the Kopetdag mountains, which grows its crown by several centimetres per year.
turkmenistan.gov.tm
