Press Box

On 11th March 2010 at 9am an official summing up ceremony of 15 years of the Kyrgyz Swiss Forestry Support Programme, KIRFOR, will be held in the Bishkek Historical Museum. In the museum's hall an exhibition of the project's main achievements will be presented, which will be open to anyone interested on 11th March, 14.00-17.00 and on 12th March, 9-00-16.00.

This project has been achieved by the Swiss Fund for Development and International cooperation "Intercooperation". From 1995 it has been financed by the Swiss Government to the amount of 20,5 million Swiss francs (almost USD 20 million).

During 15 years, this project has considerably contributed to the creation of favorable conditions for the sustainable development of the forestry sector in the country - from the development of the new national policy to modern tools of management, the support of forestry science and education, the strengthening of the participation of local people, private sector and municipalities in forestry management. Today, the country's forestry system has all the opportunities to provide for the preservation of forests and their sustainable multi-functional use. 

The main achievements of KIRFOR:

• The national forestry policy and legislation have been developed;
• Modern tools of forestry resource management were developed and adapted (new forest inventory, forest regulation methods, geographic information system and cartography, database management systems);  
• A socially oriented approach for sustainable forest management has been introduced - communal forestry management and joint forestry management (with the participation of local communities and private sector);
• Division between regulatory and operational functions;
• Research of forestry ecosystems has yielded scientific based recommendations and forestry management principles have been developed accordingly; 
• Substantial inputs in the forestry capacity building such as educational standards, manuals, curriculum, have been provided at different levels: universities and lyceums;
• Capacity of partners and stakeholders of the forestry sector is strengthened. 

During the official summing up ceremony of the project, detailed information about the process, results of the work, cooperation strategy and achievements will be presented. In addition, the web-site www.kirfor.org is in the process of being developed, where all project information will be posted, and it is planned to be launched in April 2010. 

For more details about the event: KIRFOR project, project manager Ennio Griza,
tel.: (312) 679634, 679057, e-mail: lesic@elcat.kg 


The Swiss Cooperation (www.swisscoop.kg) provides development assistance to the Kyrgyz Republic and coordinates Swiss funded projects in Kyrgyzstan and in the Central Asia Region in such areas as health care reform, water management and disaster risk reduction, basic infrastructure, private sector development, public institutions and services. The average annual disbursement to the Kyrgyz Republic by Switzerland totals USD 13-14 million. For more details about other SCO projects: Tursunai Chodurova, tel.: (312) 301036, e-mail: tursunai.chodurova@sdc.net