In accordance with the appeal of the Michael Zukkov Fund for Nature Conservation within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Michael Zukkov Fund of the Federal Republic of Germany and the State Committee for Ecology and Environment Protection of the Republic of Uzbekistan, on March 1, 2019, 12:00 a meeting was organized with representatives of the Michael Zukkov Fund (Germany) nature conservation.

The meeting was attended by the Fund Jens Wunderlich - Coordinator of the Fund for the Project of Conservation of Nature, Gritsyna Maria Alekseevna - Researcher at the Institute of Zoology of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Uktam Utayev, Vice-Chairman, H.Serimbetov, Head of the Department of Protected Natural Territories, D.Khamidova, Leading Specialist, Department of International Cooperation and Projects, took part in the meeting from the State Committee on Ecology.

The meeting began with greetings and presentations of participants. During the meeting, issues of further cooperation and the Fund’s proposals were discussed for training protected natural territories inspectors using the GPS system and photo traps to account for animals.

For reference: The Michael Zukkov Fund was founded in 1999 as the first charitable Fund for the conservation of nature. Professor Michael Zukkov was awarded the Nobel Prize for the “Right Lifestyle” in 1997, and this award was an investment as the main capital of the Fund, the goal of which was “Keep and Maintain” the Ecological Balance.

The Uzbek side briefly informed about the ongoing reforms in the field of ecology and environmental protection, improvement and development of the system of protected natural territories, improvement of the environmental situation in the republic.

Further, on the part of J. Wunderlich, information was presented on project activities, together with the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the framework of the project entitled “Desert Initiative of Central Asia: conservation and careful use of moderate deserts in Central Asia (CADE)” J. Wunderlich informed the representatives of the Michael Zukkov Fund on the Ustyurt Plateau about the scientific expeditions carried out. It was noted that the representatives of the Fund published articles on the results of the expeditions. At the same time, the representative of the Fund suggested holding seminars and trainings for employees of the State Committee on Ecology on training using the GPS system and photo traps.

During the workshop, H.Sherimbetov informing about the interest, in collaboration, stressed the importance of studying the experience of the Zukkov Fund in assessing the state of biodiversity.

At the end of the meeting, the parties thanked each other for the constructive conversation and expressed readiness for mutual cooperation.