UNDP Uzbekistan

In 1999 the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council recognized the necessity to put a greater emphasis on capacity building at the country level necessary to address global environmental challenges. People and the national governments need to know more about their environment, to be more aware of the environmental problems in their country, and think what needs to be done to resolve these problems. One of the results of this initiative was the preparation by the countries of a national self assessment (NCSAs). GEF decided to support national governments in discussing and documenting existing environmental problems, what capacities exist in the country to address these problems, and what the gaps are. This process commenced in Uzbekistan with the financial support from GEF in 2004.To come up with recommendations on how to act further, to be articulated in a strategy and action plan. The strategy and action plan should be adopted by the Government in order to show its commitment to solve the environmental problems. As most of the environmental problems fall under the three major environmental conventions that Uzbekistan is a signatory to UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UN Convention on Biodiversity Conservation and UN Convention to Combat Desertification - the project helps Uzbekistan to identify what hinders the fulfilment of the country's obligations under these conventions.The thematic baseline reports on the three Conventions, which clearly depict the situation in the country;
Identification of the existing constraints, needs and opportunities for capacity building in the three convention-related areas. The analysis of these constraints is also summarized in the 3 thematic reports;
By concentrating on one thing, oftentimes we forget about other important points we need to take into consideration. People working in biodiversity rarely give serious thoughts to the problems of climate change and vice versa. The project took that into account and looked at what can be done to reconcile the interests of the three conventions. Cross-cutting capacity constraints both at national and local levels were identified and the results are put into a comprehensive report;
The overall output of the NCSA process will be a consolidated document containing a clear Plan to improve the capacity of Uzbekistan to meet commitments under the major environmental conventions.