Advancing medium and long-term adaptation planning in Kyrgyz Republic

In September 2016, the Government of Kyrgyz Republic took initial steps towards establishing a NAP process at a high-level conference ‘From Paris to Bishkek: On the Way to Sustainable Climate Resilient Development for Kyrgyzstan’. 

This project directly supports this work and is advancing the general goals of the NAP process, while addressing strategic priorities developed by the Government of Kyrgyz Republic and empowering the country to implement its NDC commitments. The overarching goals are to reduce vulnerability to the impacts of climate change by building adaptive capacity and resilience. Concurrently, the aim is to coherently integrate climate change adaptation into relevant new and existing policies, programmes, and activities. The project is a country-driven endeavor, addressing gaps identified through an extensive stocktaking process and stakeholder consultations. 

The project further aligns with the objectives of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and UNDP, aiming to increase the resilience of the most vulnerable people, communities, and regions by strengthening institutional and regulatory systems for climate-responsive planning and development. This includes improving adaptive capacity and reducing exposure to climate risks.

By operationalizing the government’s strategic priorities, the project seeks to address the gaps and barriers to effective action. This will be achieved by targeting three primary outcomes.

1. Strengthened coordination and institutional arrangements for adaptation planning. This outcome aims to address weaknesses in knowledge management and enhance cross-sectoral planning by improving coordination and institutional structures for adaptation planning.
2. Priority sector-focused adaptation plans developed. This outcome involves providing targeted support to relevant government agencies in the four priority sectors. By addressing institutional capacity gaps, these agencies will be better equipped to integrate climate change adaptation into their planning and governance processes.
3. Sub-national climate change adaptation capacities strengthened. Provincial and subnational governments need strengthened capacities and better tools to ensure climate change adaptation is considered in planning and budgeting processes. This adaptive capacity at the local level is a priority for the national government and fundamental for local action.

Context

The Kyrgyz Republic is a landlocked country in Central Asia and is highly vulnerable to climate change. This is largely due to its low adaptive capacity, with an estimated 43 percent of the population impoverished. Surrounding mountains moderate the country’s arid, drought-prone climate. Falling pasture productivity and soil fertility threaten agriculture, which employs 65 percent of the population. The second most productive sector is mining, rendering the national economy highly dependent on climate-sensitive factors like water availability. The Kyrgyz Republic is unique when compared with other countries in Central Asia because its water resources are formed within its borders; a massive resource to the country, which derives 93 percent of its national energy supply from hydropower. However, climate change is threatening the water supply and huge water losses occur during transportation. Reducing this waste is essential to protecting the country’s agricultural and mining outputs, which rely on these hydropower and water resources. Projections estimate that Central Asia will become more arid due to climate change. The emergence of interior deserts, decreased glacial runoff, and increasing average temperatures are all expected to worsen. If glacial runoff decreases significantly, the Kyrgyz Republic will face desertification of presently arable lands and water insecurity, along with the exacerbation of existing health risks like waterborne illnesses. These risks make the Kyrgyz Republic’s rapid development of adaptation infrastructure urgent. 

NDCs and NAPs

The NAP will address the main challenges to the integration of climate change adaptation into national, sectorial and local government planning and budgeting, as identified in the 2017 stakeholder consultations and the Stocktaking Report produced by the UNDP-UNEP NAP Global Support Programme (NAP-GSP) team. The development of a NAP and the specific plans for each of the six priority sectors - energy, agriculture, biodiversity and forests, public health, emergencies, and water resources - directly align with and reinforce the commitments to adaptation outlined in the Kyrgyz Republic’s updated NDC, submitted in October 2021. The NDC addresses the same six priority sectors for adaptation actions, and introduces new intersectoral areas: Climate-Resilient Areas and Green Cities. It underscores the importance of implementing adaptation actions for a mountainous country highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. This project aims to strengthen the national and local government's capacity to implement these actions effectively.

The Kyrgyz Republic is a part of the NDC Partnership and is also engaged in UNDP’s Climate Promise which offerssupport to over 120 countries in enhancing their NDCs and meeting the challenges of climate change. With theambition to align mitigation targets with long-term goals, trends, impacts, vulnerabilities, planning, and actions, the Kyrgyz Republic's efforts are supported by this NAP project.

Baseline Situation 

Recent projects relevant to the NAP process include The Pilot Program for Climate Resilience, implemented by the EBRD, ADB, and World Bank, which improved access to climate finance for future climate change adaptation projects. Meanwhile, a GCF-funded project is helping rural communities better manage climate risks, such as increased weather variability, in the agricultural sector.

Despite these efforts, the Kyrgyz Republic’s capacity to implement adaptation planning remains low. The 2017 Stocktaking Report highlighted specific development gaps in the country’s adaptation capabilities. There is limited understanding of how adaptation measures can be linked and integrated into existing programs. Organizationally, the country must delegate responsibilities between national and local levels and increase the awareness of the economic implications of climate change to local decision-makers. Between individuals, language barriers prevent the essential exchange of information about climate change risks and NAP and GCF procedures due to limited funding and training resources.

Stakeholder Consultations

The NAP-GSP undertook a preliminary stocktaking mission in April 2017. In consultation with stakeholders, the NAP-GSP team aimed to identify the Kyrgyz Republic’s needs regarding the NAP process. A consensus around the approach and set of objectives for the NAP process was built during these stakeholder consultations and conferences. As a result, the government, ministries and relevant stakeholders see the NAP process as a key step towards achieving the objectives of the NDC. These consultations identified points of synergy between projects such that this project can be considered as a broader program of support for the Government of Kyrgyz Republic’s climate change adaptation efforts. 

The development of this project concept was an iterative process through which the government, national stakeholders and the implementing partner (UNDP) worked in close consultation with the GCF. The proposal was revised and redesigned to be consistent with GCF guidance based on review sheets and discussions.

Results

The project is making ongoing progress in strengthening coordination and institutional arrangements for climate change adaptation planning. The inception workshop, conducted on October 21, 2021, marked a crucial step in the project's initiation. Notable achievements include the development of a comprehensive stakeholder engagement plan and the establishment of duties and protocols for key entities, such as the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ecology and Technical Supervision (MNRETS). Government approvals were obtained for various activities, with legislative deliverables issued in 2021 and taken into force at the beginning of 2022. The database management responsibilities for certain activities were assigned to MNRETS.

In the realm of international and regional coordination, procedures were discussed and integrated into terms of reference. Briefing notes were prepared, addressing specific topics relevant to the adaptation planning processes from events such as Stockholm+50, COP27, and the Global Conference on the development of GCF programs. Furthermore, activities related to stakeholder engagement, legislation synthesis reviews, and coordination mechanisms are being implemented.

Under Outcome 2, priority sector adaptation plans are being formulated. Adaptation focal points were nominated for key ministries, and methodologies for capacity assessments were developed and approved based on four project reports assessing adaptation capacity, encompassing policy, legislation, and institutional review. Simultaneously, the project drafted four reports on the budgetary review for 2022, with plans to update them to incorporate the budget forecast for 2023-2024. A communication strategy for the NAP project implementation was successfully crafted, and project ideas were generated by ministries in response to a call for proposals. Various terms of reference were developed and discussed with relevant partners.

In Outcome 3, terms of reference were agreed upon for several activities regarding provincial and subnational climate change adaptation capacities. Vulnerability assessments and adaptation measures for pilot provinces were initiated, while recommendations for coordination mechanisms at both vertical and subnational levels have been developed and discussed, contributing to the overall goal of strengthening climate change adaptation capacities at the regional and provincial levels.

Output 1: National coordination and institutional arrangements for adaptation planning are clarified and strengthened

This output formulates national coordinating committees to oversee the climate action undertaken by distinct sectors and agencies and encourage communication between government entities and stakeholders. A national framework approach to coordination is essential so that one committee can be primarily responsible for the Kyrgyz Republic’s NAP process.

Sub-outcome 1.1: Green Economy and Climate Change Coordination Committee (GECCCC) capacity to coordinate national adaptation efforts is enhanced

The GECCCC is coordinating adaptation efforts between distinct sectors. To enable the GECCCC to effectively operate in that capacity, duties and protocols are being clarified and codified via the appropriate legal mechanisms. Government support is necessary to develop and support the appropriate legislation. The GECCCC must also establish procedures for interaction with stakeholders that includes a focus on gender-related issues and addresses the spirit of the SDGs in its consultations. Most importantly, the GECCCC is developing a NAP strategy document and action plan in consultation with the stakeholders and develop procedures for climate change adaptation and integration into national and subnational planning. 

Sub-outcome 1.2: State Agency on Environmental Protection and Forestry strengthened as Lead Technical Agency for climate change adaptation

As the State Agency on Environmental Protection and Forestry (SAEPF) will be the Lead Technical Agency, the current state of the agency is being assessed to identify gaps and weaknesses before a training support program is established. In conjunction with ongoing training programs, the agency is enhancing its operational capabilities through the creation of an online database. This database will encompass historical, current, and upcoming development plans, activities by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), adaptation projects, and the latest climate data and projections. The SAEPF is also developing processes to monitor and evaluate the NAP process and coordinate with the Climate Finance Center. 

Sub-outcome 1.3: Technical capacities of the National Statistic Committee and Hydrometeorological Agency strengthened

This sub-outcome addresses the weaknesses in the National Statistics Committee by conducting a review of staff capacities and identifying gaps in climate-related information. Updated data collection and processing procedures is being implemented to prevent the committee from compiling incomplete or fragmented climate-related information in the future. To do this, climate indicators throughout the country are being reviewed to formalize and standardize data collection, which will allow the Hydrometeorological Agency to develop and update future climate scenarios and disseminate meaningful warnings to priority sectors and stakeholders. 

Output 2: Priority Sector Adaptation Plans formulated

This output focuses on the abilities of specific agencies to participate in the prioritization of climate action within the Kyrgyz Government under direction and guidance from SAEPF and other major national ministries. 

Sub-outcome 2.1: Priority sector technical and managerial capacity strengthened

Given that SAEPF is being strengthened under Sub-outcome 1.2, SAEPF is supporting focal ministries to conduct baseline stocktaking surveys to assess capacity and gaps. The findings of these surveys will be used to develop programs to train key staff in these agencies. Focal ministries’ staff will be supported and overseen by NAP taskforces within priority sector agencies. These agencies will be responsible for compiling sector-specific climate change information and consult with stakeholders on climate change issues from the perspective of priority sectors. 

Sub-outcome 2.2: Priority sector vulnerabilities updated and priority adaptation options identified

To identify priority sector vulnerabilities and potential options, sectoral vulnerability assessments are being conducted and distributed to sector stakeholders in coordination with SAEPF and the Hydrometeorological Agency. In response to the vulnerabilities highlighted by the assessments, the key sector agencies will evaluate and prioritize potential options to address major risks. These ideas will enter the project pipeline for support and financing plans. Climate Proofing Guidelines, being developed by SAEPF and the Ministry of Economy, will lay out procedures to turn priority concepts into pilot projects.

Sub-outcome 2.3: Climate change adaptation considerations mainstreamed into priority sector agencies’ planning processes

As priority sectors have lacked secondary legislation to support mainstreaming climate change adaptation, appropriate agencies are conducting reviews of their policy and budget choices to identify entry points for adaptation to be added to development plans and budgets. These agencies are developing strategies with specific timelines and targets to formulate secondary legislation related to climate change. 

Output 3: Provincial and subnational climate change adaptation capacities strengthened

Although a major focus of the NAP process in the Kyrgyz Republic is national coordination and national action, subnational entities like local government agencies and local communities must also be involved in the implementation of climate change adaptation methods. This output calls for national government entities to guide local government entities regarding ways to implement climate change adaptation and educate their communities in a way that is inclusive of marginalized groups.

Sub-outcome 3.1: Subnational technical and managerial capacity for climate change adaptation tasks enhanced

This sub-outcome prioritizes the creation of an information feedback loop in the Kyrgyz Republic, which allows lower-level agencies and sub-national concerns to be considered in climate-related decision-making. This communication is being established through vertical coordination and stakeholder coordination. In addition, budgeting guidelines for local sub-national governments are being developed. The Ministry of Economy and The Ministry of Finance are working in tandem to guide local governments in incorporating climate action costs into government grants. 

Sub-outcome 3.2: Vulnerability assessments and mainstreaming initiated at provincial level 

SAEPF is coordinating the development of procedural guidelines to conduct vulnerability assessments by province and working with the Ministry for Economy to conduct pilot vulnerability assessments in Osh, Jalal-Abad, and Batken. After compiling a list of priority adaptation methods through consultation with stakeholders, SAEPF will coordinate with the Ministry for Economy to find entry points for these methods in state-level planning. Finally, support for climate change adaptation will be mainstreamed through the dissemination of educational materials with an emphasis on reaching women and marginalized groups.