Kyrgyzstan possesses 2% of the world’s flora and fauna, despite accounting for only 0.03% of its land area. The fruit and nut forests of the Fergana Valley in southern Kyrgyzstan are of global conservation importance, being dominated by walnut (Juglans regia) and a wide variety of other fruit- and nut-bearing tree species. These forests are unique due to their particular species composition and their high economic value.

The main objective of the nature protection project in the walnut-fruit forests in Kyrgyzstan was sustainable use of nut and fruit trees, identifying beekeeping and forest health monitoring capacity of partner organisations and involving direct collaboration with local communities to conduct multi-disciplinary education and training on biodiversity conservation issues.

We invited leading specialists in the fields of beekeeping, plant ecology, and forestry to attend a workshop in Karmalma village. Invited workshop participants were asked to prepare presentations summarizing their own beekeeping approaches. There were 30-35 participants that were invited, including representatives from the Karalma, Urumbash, Ortok and Kara-Kuldja village communities, NGOs and beekeepers. During the training seminar, we attempted to address the main objective: how to improve beekeeping in the Karalma village?

A significant amount of knowledge on beekeeping was transferred to farmers, farming associations, and local communities, which will assist them to manage their own bee populations. Solutions were identified, with some being beyond the scope of this particular project.

After the grant finishing we are applied for another grants as the Christensen Fund for continuation. At the moment we are working in close collaboration with village community and farmers on biodiversity conservation activities in Kara-Alma village. We do hope to expand our area investigation to other places in the walnut-fruit forests in near future.