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strategy for 12 mountain blocks in Tanzania, includ-
ing a forested area of approximately 350,000 ha, and a
site-based project in the Uluguru Mountains, one of the
most important mountain blocks in the EAM in terms of
global biodiversity values. This work has been comple-
mented by efforts to strengthen institutional capacity to
manage the network of 150 PAs in the area. The Nature
Reserves Unit was established within the Forestry
and Beekeeping Department (FBD) of Government,
strengthening reserve management capacity.
The project has also contributed to building strong
cooperation and capacity among its partners (CARE,
Tanzania Forest Conservation Group and Sokoine
University) that will be sustained within other similar
programmes. Given the general emphasis on REDD+
and forest carbon projects in Tanzania, there is a great
need for people with knowledge in the field. Inspired by
the project’s results, many people are now working on
activities that follow in the project’s footsteps.
Forest protection and reforestation project in
Kazakhstan (GEF-World Bank)
Kazakhstan possesses a significant forest resource, with
11.5 million ha of forested land playing an important
role in providing key environmental and economic
services. Forests are a key factor in soil and sand reten-
tion in the face of the country’s strong winds and they
protect watersheds and reduce siltation of waterways
and reservoirs. They have also been a driving force in
the country’s economy as a source of fodder, food, fuel,
medicinal plants and recreation. About 300,000 people
are directly dependent on the forest sector, while an
estimated 2.5 million live in or rely on the forests for
fuelwood, fodder and other forest products.
The project supports the development of cost-
effective and sustainable environmental rehabilitation
and management of forest lands and associated range
lands, with a focus on the Irtysh pine forest, the dry
Aral Seabed, and range lands of saxaul shrubs. It
includes:
• Rehabilitation and effective management of 650,000
ha of damaged Irtysh pine forest in the north-east
(Pavlodar and East-Kazakhstan Oblasts), including
support for replanting about 41,000 ha, fire
management and a small social forestry pilot
• Accelerating the spread of vegetative cover by plant-
ing up to 79,000 ha of dry Aral seabed and pilot
rehabilitation of 6,000 ha of saxaul range lands
(Kzylorda Oblast)
• Capacity-building of the Forest and Hunting
Committee and associated organizations (policy
analysis, information systems including mapping,
human resource development and a competitive
grant programme).
The project aims at reducing, preventing and amelio-
rating land degradation with a focus on restoring and
maintaining tree and other vegetative cover. Multiple
benefits include preservation of pasture and arable
Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological
Diversity to the GEF. It is also in line with the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification 10-year strategy, which
focuses on efforts to prevent, control and reverse desertification and
land degradation while contributing to the reduction of poverty in
the context of sustainable development. Furthermore, the strategy
addresses the focus of the UNFF Non-legally Binding Instrument on
All Types of Forests, which supports international cooperation and
national action to reduce deforestation, prevent forest degradation,
promote sustainable livelihoods and reduce poverty for all forest-
dependent peoples.
The collaborative nature of GEF forest projects and their ability to
generate multiple benefits from forest ecosystems, while at the same
time contributing to countries’ sustainable development goals and
improving the livelihoods of forest-dependent people, can be illus-
trated by several projects that highlight a range of approaches, from
traditional efforts to expand and enhance protected area networks
to community-based management and integrated agroforestry land-
scape approaches.
The Amazon Region Protected Areas Project (GEF-World Bank)
The Amazon Region Protected Areas Project (ARPA) is a three-
phased, 10-year initiative designed to conserve biodiversity of global
importance in Brazil’s Amazon region. The project represented an
innovative initiative in promoting a public-private partnership and
participatory approach at a scale that had never been attempted
before in the country. It also provided the framework to bring differ-
ent levels of government, civil society and financing partners together
in a coordinated and collaborative effort. The project, whose objec-
tive was to expand and consolidate the protected areas (PAs) system
in the Amazon region, made a significant contribution to increasing
the number and area of PAs. Specifically, 13 ‘strict protection’ PAs
of 13.2 million hectares (ha) and 30 ‘sustainable use’ PAs of 10.8
million ha were created under ARPA’s first phase. With respect to the
consolidation of PAs, only one existing ‘strict protection’ PA (Reserva
Biológia do Uatuma) covering some 938,000 ha in area had been clas-
sified as consolidated. Nevertheless, an additional existing seven PAs
are currently in an advanced stage of consolidation, together with
an additional three existing PAs, representing a total of 6.9 million
hectares. An Endowment Fund was created to meet the recurrent
costs of PAs, reaching a capitalization of US$18 million prior to
October 2008. As the world looks to protect the Amazon as a globally
essential carbon sink, the ARPA projects and efforts to create large
PAs are seen as a critical investment in limiting unintended carbon
emissions and maintaining high levels of ecosystem functionality.
Conservation and management of forests of the Eastern Arc
Mountains in Tanzania (GEF-UNDP)
The forests of the Eastern Arc Mountains (EAM) in north-eastern
Tanzania contain exceptional species richness of local and global
importance. They are recognized by the WorldWide Fund for Nature
as a Global 200 Ecoregion, and by Conservation International as a
terrestrial biodiversity hotspot. This project was aimed at conserving
the biodiversity of the EAM forests at a level beyond what could be
expected based on the prevailing management objectives of water-
shed protection.
To address the threats facing these forests and the carbon they
store, this project was designed with two main components: a
strategy component that aimed to develop a holistic conservation