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GGGI Uzbekistan participates in the COP26 Side Event on Upscaling Green Climate Financing and Green ODA for Climate Action and Green Recovery of developing countries

Glasgow, November 8, 2021 – During COP26 in Glasgow, the GGGI Uzbekistan team was pleased to participate in a high-level side event entitled Upscaling Green Climate Financing and Green ODA for Climate Action and Green Recovery of developing countries.

In this panel session, GGGI Uzbekistan Country Representative (Dr. Aaron Russell) and Uzbekistan’s State Committee for Ecology and Environmental Protection’s Head of International Programs (Mr. Jakhongir Talipov) shared an overview of GGGI’s partnership with the governments of the Republic of Korea and Uzbekistan in developing an integrated approach to promoting Green Rehabilitation around the Aral Sea. The Green Rehabilitation Investment Project for Karakalpakstan Republic to address impacts of the Aral Sea Crisis (or the “Aral Sea GRIP project”) will implement capacity building to reduce farmers existing sources of environmental risk, will work with farmers and private companies to develop new climate-resilient agricultural value chains and mobilize green finance to improve access to finance and scale up climate-resilient technical assistance.

This project represents an excellent model for targeting international ODA to address the challenges of environmental degradation and climate change adaptation while also providing tangible economic growth and investment outcomes. The event panel discussion highlighted several catalytic outcomes that GGGI is committed to supporting the development of Uzbekistan.

GGGI is honored to have been entrusted by the Korean and Uzbek governments to implement this project and is committed to achieving lasting impacts for Uzbekistan’s farmers. Through the development of innovative partnerships between partners such as the Government of Uzbekistan, KOICA, GGGI, and the GCF, we are drawing from the lessons learned and technologies developed in Korea’s agriculture to inform a green transition in Uzbekistan.

The Aral Sea GRIP project will also incorporate a number of tools and approaches developed by GGGI and GCF to incubate green entrepreneurialism to support new agri-business. Furthermore, GGGI will use Korea’s green ODA to mobilize additional climate finance by creating a credit guarantee facility to increase access to finance for green agribusiness companies.  Finally, this project will demonstrate the importance of investing in climate-smart agriculture by identifying and measuring climate change intervention impacts on biodiversity to improve the sustainability and health of the landscapes that form a foundation for Karakalpakstan’s rural economy.

The recording of the side-event is available here.

To learn more about GGGI’s work in Uzbekistan visit here.