Global Environment Facility to allocate USD 20 mln to restore ecosystems in Central Asia

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) will allocate some 20 million US dollars to restore ecosystems in Central Asia, CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility Carlos Manuel Rodriguez said.

Carlos Manuel Rodriguez arrived in Kazakhstan as part of the GEF mission in Central Asia to discuss biodiversity conservation and environmental issues.

The UNDP-GEF project “Conservation and sustainable management of key globally significant ecosystems for multiple benefits” is being implemented in Kazakhstan. The point at issue is to preserve the snow leopard in Kazakhstan.

Carlos Manuel Rodriguez said more than 85% of GEF - Central Asia joint environmental projects are successful.

He added the snow leopard is an indicator of the state of ecosystems. If there are snow leopards in the region then the ecosystem functions properly. For the past 15 years, the GEF helped increase the protected area up to 1 million hectares.

Probably, the current number of snow leopards of 150 to 200 species in Kazakhstan is small. But there is a trend of a rising leopard population as compared to other countries which record a decrease in the number of snow leopards, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez said. He expressed hope that Kazakhstan will further create favorable conditions for snow leopards.