Any forest has an ecological and social value to a greater or lesser degree. This value can include presence of rare plants and animals, recreational places for people or forest products stored by the local population. The forests where this value is regarded as especially high or having crucial significance can be assigned to the high conservation value forests (HCVF). The concept of their introduction in Kyrgyzstan has been discussed by the UNDP, the SAEPF, the NAS of the KR and some partner organizations at the two-day working meeting held on October 11, 2019.   This concept aims to create the forest territories, where cutting should be restricted or prohibited.

It shall be noted that this topic is new for Kyrgyzstan, therefore, sharing the best practices between the countries is of vital importance. The next stage is to create an interagency working group to study the categories of the HCVF suitable for Kyrgyzstan.

In November 2019 an exchange visit to Italy and Switzerland took place, in the course of which the representatives from the State Agency for Environment Protection and Forestry and the State Enterprise “Kyrgyzlesokhotustroistvo” studied the possibilities to apply successfully the concept of the HCVF. In the course of the exchange visit, the participants met with the representatives from the Ministry of agricultural, food and forest policy and tourism of Italy, saw the regional park Parco Dell’Oglio Sud, visited the regional forest Lecco in Italy as well as the HCVF in the area Valle Maggia and Bolle di Magadino in Switzerland.

The participants shared their knowledge and experience with the representatives from some partner organizations for environment protection and wildlife. Owing to the visit the participants learned the monetization types of the ecosystem services and the experience in the monitoring that is planned to be implemented in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan under the support of the UNDP-GEF projects “Conservation of globally important biodiversity and associated land and forest resources of Western Tian Shan mountain ecosystems to support sustainable livelihoods” and «Conservation and sustainable management of key globally important ecosystems for multiple benefits” implemented in two countries. 

The High conservation value forests (HCVF) are the forests that have outstanding or key importance due to their high ecological, socio-economic, landscape value or their value for conservation of the biodiversity. The key idea of the HCVF concept is to reveal and to protect the high conservation value (the HCV). Just the presence of the HCV indicates whether it is possible to assign this forest to the HCVF group. According to the definition of the Forest Stewardship Council, the high conservation value forests are the forest territories, where it is necessary to preserve or to increase their high conservation value. Consequently, highlighting these territories is the first step to develop the relevant management system of the HCVF.

The UNDP in the KR is implementing at present the project on conservation of globally important biodiversity in the Western Tian Shan, the main objective of which is to preserve unique natural complexes and biodiversity, to assist in protection of rare and endangered animals and plants. The project is financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and is being implemented in partnership with the State Agency for Environment Protection and Forestry under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic.