network of research and training centres/programmes
unique Pamir-Alai ecosystem
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The rugged beauty of the Pamir-Alai mountains in central Asia. |
The unique and fragile environment of the High Pamir-Alai mountains in central Asia is the focus of a new project to be undertaken by UN University's Environment and Sustainable Development Programme.
The mountains are shared by Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, their northern chains forming the border between the two countries. The Pamir mountains cover about half of the territory of Tajikistan while the Pamir-Alai covers the southern part of Kyrgyzstan.
The entire region is vulnerable to land degradation and associated natural disasters such as landslides and mudflows, an ever-present threat to densely-populated southern Kyrgyzstan as well as the Tajik Pamirs.
The governments of both Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have recognised the need to protect the environment of the High Pamirs and Pamir-Alai regions with their characteristic extreme bio-physical conditions, high altitudes (3,000 to 7,400 meters) and special arid to sub-humid climate.
In Tajikistan, the largest National Park in Central Asia, covering 2.6 million hectares (almost one-fifth of the country), was formally established in 1992 but has so not yet become operational. In Kyrgyzstan, parts of the Pamir-Alai were included in a nationwide protected areas network covering 777,000 hectares or nearly four percent of the country..
Starting this year, UNU will be one of the agencies preparing and developing proposals under a new UNEP/GEF project called Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in the High Pamir-Alai Mountains. The work, tobe undertaken in cooperation with the governments of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and the Administration of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast, is expected to take about two years.
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