PROJECT FOR MITIGATING LAND DEGRADATION AND REDUCING POVERTY IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS DISCUSSED

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.03.2010 20:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ REC Caucasus organized the first Meeting of the
Steering Committee on "Sustainable Land Management for Mitigating Land
Degradation and Reducing Poverty in the South Caucasus Region" Project
in all 3 countries of South Caucasus: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

The need of regional cooperation in combating desertification has been
stressed at the International Conference on the Issues of Draught and
Desertification in the Countries of the South Caucasus hosted by REC
Caucasus in 2002. Even though desertification has intensified over the
past years in the South Caucasus region, no measures have been taken
at the regional level to address this problem. The program launched
in 2009 year and covers Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

The overall objective of the project is to ensure continued ecosystem
functions and integrity, reduce poverty and enhance food security
and income for rural farmers in the South Caucasus countries by
combating desertification, strengthening the natural resource base
and revitalizing the agricultural sector.

The meetings were attended by representatives of REC Caucasus
and CENN, organizations implementing the above mentioned project,
"Ruzgar" (partner organization in Azerbaijan), "Green Lane" (partner
organization in Armenia), and members of steering committee. The
members of steering committee represented the authorities, NGOs and
scientific circles involved in the project.

REC Caucasus representatives made the presentation on "Sustainable
Land Management for Mitigating Land Degradation and Reducing Poverty
in the South Caucasus Region" Project: its goals, objectives,
expected results etc. The Committee members were familiarized with
their duties, in particular to provide consultation to the project
national coordinator, to monitor the project implementation and to
facilitate implementation of the project at the governmental level.

Implemented activities in 2009-2010 years and future work plan were
also presented to the Committee members. The Steering Committee Members
discussed the Project work plan for 2009/2010 years and made several
comments, especially they stressed the necessity of deeper research
of soil in the Region.

In Armenia the Committee members stressed the need for the strategy of
agriculture development which will be the guideline for the future
activities. On the meeting of Azerbaijan Steering Committee the
problem of the lack of knowledge in the region about the rational
use of land for agriculture was mentioned. The elaboration of the
guidelines for the soil research was named as one of the most crucial
issues in Georgia.

The next meeting was scheduled for late May.