Cooperation Agreement between WWF and Uzbekistan

In attendance were Umarbek Khalilov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Ecology and Environmental Protection (SCEEP) and Grigory Mazmaniants, Director of the WWF Central Asian Program.

The signature of this agreement has been in discussion by the parties for a long time. Back in October 2021, in Gland (Switzerland), WWF International CEO Marco Lambertini discussed with a delegation of the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Ecology and Environmental Protection (SCEEP) the importance of this step to strengthen bilateral cooperation between WWF and Uzbekistan.

Today, with the support of WWF, three small grants projects under the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund’s Mountains of Central Asia grantmaking program are being implemented in Uzbekistan. Last year, the project « Restoration of the mountain ecosystem around the Karakum village by involving local nature users in forest restoration and supporting active environmental education» was successfully completed.

After signing the agreement, a working meeting was held between representatives of the Committee and the WWF Central Asian Program. During the event, various areas of cooperation were discussed, especially plans for the conservation of the Bukhara deer in Uzbekistan.