Conservation of riparian forests with its full range of ecosystem services along the Naryn River in Kyrgyzstan is the overarching objective of this project. The Naryn River on the one hand has not been altered by construction infrastructure like dams, but its riparian forests have been serving as source for fuel wood and grazing in silvo-pastoral systems. Over harvest and over grazing both have resulted in large scale degradation of these systems so that grazing as source for food and income as well as fuel wood as energy source to rural communities are substantially impacted. Among others, plantations and agroforestry systems based on fast growing trees – poplars – will be tested and demonstrated as a potential land management option for rural communities.

The project is lead by the Catholic University Eichstätt from Germany and will be implemented with a consortium of 15 partners from academia, administration, and business, from Germany and Kyrgyzstan.

ICRAF’s contribution is to test a range of poplars as fast growing trees under the cold mountain climate along the Naryn River as trees for plantations and agroforestry, from which eventually fuel wood demand of the partner communities can be covered.