International Rangeland and Pastureland Specialist

Organizational Setting\:

FAO Country Office in Uzbekistan is responsible for partnership with and support to the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan, bringing together technical assistance innovative, international best practices and global normative work standards with national and regional expertise.

Project technical coordinator and the FAO Representative in Uzbekistan, in close coordination with the FAO-SEC Forestry Officer (LTO), the IPPC secretariat, relevant international consultants and all project team members, Assistant FAO Representative in Uzbekistan

Technical Focus\:

Forestry, natural resources management

• Prepare Work program including tentative dates of field missions to be conducted;
• Compile globally available Best practices on rangelands and pasturelands management and make concrete recommendations for their application in Uzbekistan
• Develop a Management strategy for rangelands and pasturelands in Uzbekistan. The Strategy should provide clear practical guidelines how to sustainably use of rangelands and pasturelands by domestic livestock. The aim is to avoid land degradation and promote carbon sequestration and ensure soil protection against erosion. This should be achieved through improvement of perennial and annual vegetation cover, especially of grasses and full engagement of farmers and local communities. The Strategy should include, but is not limited to the following proposals\:
• Establish stock taking and prioritization of activities to plan for immediate rehabilitation action
• Map the land to obtain information on vegetation type, cover extent, degradation degree.
• Identifyvulnerable areas in need of restrictions for grazing (Long term protection – excluded from grazing);
• Identifystripes and spots for rangeland/grazing in need of species recovery (Temporary protection – short period 1-2 years fence and seeding of fodder and grass species by using a list of suitable native species). This should also allow for spreading of these plants to neighboring areas to increase fodder and grass production there);
• Planfor short and long-term measures
• Revise existing regulation of grazing to ensure rotation/optimum grazing timing that gives sufficient time for the vegetation to recover after a grazing period. This could include sub-division of respective areas into rotationally used compartments. The aim is to design rotation system which would increases production of fodder and thus improvement of meat or milk production of domestic animals, but would allow for full periodical recovery of vegetation as well;
• Revise existing system for grazing contracts including leases/licenses/annual grazing tickets. This should include regulation for early spring grazing which needs to be avoided/prohibited to avoid damage to the roots and bulbs of perennial grasses and herb species to allow high productive growth in spring. New contract models should be developed and include not only the rights of the contract holders, but also their contractual obligations and penalties for contract violation. Additionally, existing system of financial and incentive mechanisms should be revised;
• Revise existing control system on grazing activities during no grazing, early spring and late summer period. The revision should focus on monitoring design including set of associated indicators and law enforcement procedures.;
• Ensure gender sensitive participation of local communities to decrease the grazing pressure by offering compensatory measures including those on alternative income sources;
• Integrate management of rangelands and pasturelands into management of surrounding forests;
• Raise public awareness;
• Prepare content for materials on pasture management, best practices, and recommendations for increasing efficiency and effectiveness of rangeland and pasture management;
• Outline public activities to support dissemination of above information
• Conduct training on Management strategy for rangelands and pasturelands. The training will include the following standard components
• Concept note on the background, content of the training, target groups, etc.;
• Training programme;
• Training presentations;
• Delivery of the training.
• Support building technical and institutional capacities for interventions on pasture and rangeland management at all levels;
• Support provision of information to the farmers and local communities to facilitate problem solving related to pasture and rangeland management;
• Support interventions on establishment of necessary nurseries and forest restoration;
• Support - when appropriate - all national consultants by providing technical feedback on all tasks related to implementation of the project on the ground;
• Submit Back to office reports (BTORs) after each missions as per FAO standard rules & regulations;
• Deliver Terminal consultancy report summarizing all achievement including best practices and lessons learned.