1.2 Detalles de contacto de las personas de referencia e instituciones involucradas en la evaluación y la documentación del Enfoque

Nombre del proyecto que facilitó la documentación/ evaluación del Enfoque (si fuera relevante)

Integrated Biodiversity Management, South Caucasus (IBiS)

Nombre de la(s) institución(es) que facilitaron la documentación/ evaluación del Enfoque si fuera relevante)

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

1.3 Condiciones referidas al uso de datos documentados mediante WOCAT

¿Cuándo se compilaron los datos (en el campo)?

01/02/2016

El compilador y la/s persona(s) de referencia claves aceptan las condiciones acerca del uso de los datos documentados mediante WOCAT :

Sí

1.4 Referencia/s al/los Cuestionario(s) de Tecnologías MST

2.1 Breve descripción del Enfoque

The unsustainable use of pastures and forest areas has led to soil erosion, degradation, desertification and loss of biodiversity in the high mountain areas of the South Caucasus. The development of pasture passports is part of a broader approach to a strategic pasture management plan for Tusheti. This showcase includes results from the spatial planning process applied in a pilot programme for Akhmeta municipality.

2.2 Descripción detallada del Enfoque MST

Descripción detallada del Enfoque MST:

Project area and purpose
The project area comprises the Tusheti Protected Areas (PAs) on the northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountains in Georgia. This group of protected areas consists of a strict nature reserve, a national park and a protected landscape with about 40 villages and settlements. Together they form a total protected area of approx. 114,000 ha. In Tusheti, overgrazing has led, especially in the eastern part with a higher number of villages and roads, to soil erosion and biodiversity loss. Especially the intensive use of summer pastures during the Soviet period resulted in a severe deterioration of the mountain slopes. So far, there are no standards or guidelines for the elaboration of sustainable pasture management plans in Georgia. Pasture passports, as a first step towards sustainable pasture management, document the actual grazing capacity for each pasture unit and serve as a guiding document for shepherds and local stakeholders and as a basis to prepare lease contracts.
Data gathering
As a prerequisite for the development of pasture passports and the calculation of grazing capacity, the type of land cover, the erosion risk and the biomass of the pastureland had to be assessed for each pasture unit. This was done using remote sensing tools in combination with data collected in the field for calibration.
The details on the methodology of the Land Cover & Biomass as well as the Erosion Risk Assessment can be found in the WOCAT technology on "Remote Sensing as a Tool for Land Degradation Neutrality Monitoring" (see link).

Evaluation and Ground Truthing
All interim results have been checked and evaluated by local stakeholders, national experts and experts from local administrations. It was important not only to conduct workshops in seminar rooms but to meet the local stakeholders in the field and to discuss the problems and challenges of pasture management on place in the field. At this workshops all levels of decision makers were included (Ministries, Donor organisations, international and national experts, local administrations and land users). This was important to create a common understanding of the current situation from different perspectives (nature conservation, administration, shepherds ...). The combination of remote sensing with calibration data from the field can be summarised as a very effective method to assess the erosion state in large areas. Neither of the two instruments would be able to provide results in this spatial dimension and quality alone.

Pasture Passports
As part of the spatial planning of Akhmeta municipality, pastureland that can be leased to shepherds was separated from land used as hay meadows, farmland or pastures belonging to the villagers. The resulting map shows land available to the village and land available for lease. To understand the current use of pastureland, farms, livestock numbers and pasture units were assessed. In workshops with the local stakeholders and potential users of the results (shepherds, Tusheti Protected Landscape Administration, Tusheti NP Administration, APA), the design of the pasture passports was developed. Each pasture unit is described on four pages in the pasture passport.

Each pasture unit is described on four pages in the pasture passport: Header: the number (code), total area; content: map of the land cover types, the area of each land cover type, map of available biomass and carrying capacity, name of farmers/shepherds and their livestock numbers using the pasture unit

Spatial Planning Department and Construction Policy (within the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure MRDI), and the Agency of Protected Areas APA (within the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture MEPA), are key stakeholders to use the pasture passports and to further develop and upscale this approach to other protected areas in Georgia. Beside APA, the Tusheti Protected Landscape Administration (TPLA), located within the Akhmeta municipality administration, is the second important user of pasture passports.
The pasture passports are showing not only the boundaries of each pasture unit, but also those areas that must not be grazed because this lands are part of strict protected areas or areas of high erosion risk. This helps shepherds to guide their flocks to the right places and the park rangers to check, if the regulations are respected correctly.

2.3 Fotos del Enfoque

2.5 País/ región/ lugares donde el Enfoque fue aplicado

2.6 Fechas de inicio y conclusión del Enfoque

2.7 Tipo de Enfoque

• proyecto/ basado en un programa

2.8 Propósitos/ objetivos principales del Enfoque

Support land use planning and decision-making processes for better management of natural resources, especially pastures.

2.9 Condiciones que facilitan o impiden la implementación de la/s Tecnología/s aplicadas bajo el Enfoque

3.1 Partes interesadas involucradas en el Enfoque y sus roles

3.2 Involucramiento de los usuarios locales de tierras/ comunidades locales en las distintas fases del Enfoque

	Involucramiento de los usuarios locales de tierras/ comunidades locales	Especifique quién se involucró y describa las actividades
iniciación/ motivación	pasivo
planificación	pasivo
implementación	interactivo	Organized meetings, workshop where stakeholders, local communities discussed different technical methodologies, visited the project communities and evaluated the preliminary result maps of erosion risk in the field.
monitoreo y evaluación	pasivo

3.3 Flujograma (si estuviera disponible)

3.4 La toma de decisiones en la selección de Tecnología(s) MST

Especifique quién decidió la selección de las Tecnología/ Tecnologías a implementarse:

• principalmente por especialistas MST en consulta con usuarios de tierras

Especifique las bases que sustentaron la toma de decisiones:

• la evaluación de conocimiento MST bien documentado (la toma de decisiones se basa en evidencia)

4.1 Construcción de capacidades / capacitación

¿Se proporcionó la capacitación a usuarios de tierras/ otras partes interesadas?

Sí

Especifique quién fue capacitado:

• personal de campo/ consejeros

Forma de capacitación:

• áreas de demostración

Forma de capacitación:

• workshop with field mission

Temas avanzados:

Evaluation of model results, preliminary result maps of erosion risk in the field, technical implementation of the sensitivity model in Georgia.

Comentarios:

The workshops were combined with field missions to evaluate model results directly in the field. The expert teams went into the project communities and evaluated the preliminary result maps of erosion risk in the field together with local stakeholders.

4.2 Servicio de asesoría

¿Los usuarios de tierras tienen acceso a un servicio de asesoría?

Sí

Especifique si servicio proporcionado se realizó:

• en centros permanentes

Describa/ comentarios:

Located on district level in Telavi

4.3 Fortalecimiento institucional (desarrollo institucional)

¿Se establecieron o fortalecieron instituciones mediante el Enfoque?

• sí, moderadamente

Especifique el nivel o los niveles en los que se fortalecieron o establecieron las instituciones:

• local
• regional
• nacional

Describa la institución, roles y responsabilidades, miembros, etc.

The results of the approach implementation in Georgia has been summarized by the Programme ”Integrated Biodiversity Management, South Caucasus” and distributed to the experts in Azerbaijan for the further implementation.
Approach and results have been handed over to the local municipality responsible for the lease contracts in the Protected Landscape and to APA, which is responsible for the land use in the national park to integrate them into their pasture management plans.

Especifique el tipo de apoyo:

• financiero
• construcción de capacidades/ entrenamiento

• sharing the concept, approach

Proporcione detalles adicionales:

The concept and approach has been shared with local municipalities and other related experts.
Pilot study financed by GIZ.

4.4 Monitoreo y evaluación

¿El monitoreo y la evaluación forman parte del Enfoque?

Sí

Comentarios:

Within the project a basline was drawn with the current livestock numbers, the current available fodder biomass and the current state of erosion.

Si respondió que sí, ¿la documentación se utilizará para monitoreo y evaluación?

Sí

Comentarios:

The remote sensing technology enables a sound methodology to compare the state of erosion and the biomass volume based on satelite data after some years with the baseline values from 2017.

4.5 Investigación

¿La investigación formó parte del Enfoque?

Sí

Especifique los temas:

• tecnología

Proporcione detalles adicionales e indique quién hizo la investigación:

National and international ecologists did research on vegetation details and biomass as well as on the remote sensing technology.

5.1 Presupuesto anual para el componente MST del Enfoque

Si no se conoce el presupuesto anual preciso, indique el rango:

• 10,000-100,000

Comentarios (ej. fuentes principales de financiamiento/ donantes principales):

The funds came from the Integrated Erosion Control project which aas launched as part of the Integrated Biodiversity Management, South Caucasus (IBiS) Programme of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

5.2 Apoyo financiero/material proporcionado a los usuarios de tierras

¿Los usuarios de tierras recibieron financiamiento/ apoyo material para implementar la Tecnología/ Tecnologías? :

No

5.3 Subsidios para insumos específicos (incluyendo mano de obra)

• ninguno

Si la mano de obra de usuarios de tierras fue un insumo sustancial, ¿fue:

• voluntario?

Comentarios:

There was a questionnaire and land-users shared their information on land-use practice.

5.4 Crédito

¿Se proporcionó crédito bajo el Enfoque para actividades MST?

No

5.5 Otros incentivos o instrumentos

¿Se usaron otros incentivos o instrumentos para promover la implementación de Tecnologías MST?

Sí

Si fuera el caso, especifique :

The Agency of Protected Areas (APA) thinks about upscaling the pasture passport method on a national level and establish the approach also in other protected areas of Georgia.

6.1 Impactos del Enfoque

6.2 Motivación principal del usuario de la tierra para implementar MST

6.3 Sostenibilidad de las actividades del Enfoque

¿Pueden los usuarios de tierras sostener lo que se implementó mediante el Enfoque (sin apoyo externo)?

• sí

Si respondió que sí, describa cómo:

The remote sensing technology is not available to the land users, but the results (pasture passports) can be used by shepherds and local authorities to adjust the grazing intensity to the maximum carrying capacity of each pasture unit.

6.4 Fortalezas/ ventajas del Enfoque

Fuerzas/ ventajas/ oportunidades desde la perspectiva del usuario de la tierra
The pasture passports are describing each pasture unit available for lease not only by size but also by the amount of available fodder biomass. This is representing the productivity and the maps are showing the accessibility of the fodder biomass to the livestock. This is essential for a more accurate prize estimation on the value of each pasture compared to old data just giving the size of the pasture unit.
The pasture passports are improving the legal basis for the lease contract. Areas that should not be grazed (strict protected areas, forests, areas of high erosion risk) are clearly shown on the map.
During the preparation process the village related areas and the pastures for lease have been defined and mapped. This leads to clear responsibilities for the different pasture lands.

Fuerzas/ ventajas/ oportunidades desde la perspectiva del compilador o de otra persona de referencia clave
Contribution to the work by local municipalities - the overall results have been handed over to the municipality, responsible for the lease contracts in the Protected Landscape and to APA, responsible for the land use in the National Park.
The remote sensing technology is an objective method to assess the state of the pasture land and can be reproduced at any future time or in other areas of the Caucasus.
The GIS data and databases can support the administrative process of preparing lease contracts and can additionally be used for further research activities.

6.5 Debilidades/ desventajas del Enfoque y formas de sobreponerse a ellos

Debilidades/ desventajas/ riesgos desde la perspectiva del usuario de la tierra	¿Cómo sobreponerse a ellas?
Informal land use practises are now documented and fixed in lease contracts. That might lead to higher costs (lease) and reduce the profit of the shepherd/livestock owner.	It needs to be communicated that long term lease contracts guarantee the shepherds/livestock owner grazing rights for several years. Investments into pasture quality and infrastructure become more meaningful.

Debilidades/ desventajas/ riesgos desde la perspectiva del compilador o de otra persona de referencia clave	¿Cómo sobreponerse a ellas?
The preparation process includes high investment of resources in the first setup of the remote sensing data, field evaluation and database development. It needs special experts and know how.	Remote sensing becomes cheaper when applied on large areas. A distribution of field samples across the whole Caucasus range would enable to upscale from the pilot area to a much wider range with less costs per hectare pasture land.

7.1 Métodos/ fuentes de información

7.2 Referencias a publicaciones disponibles

Título, autor, año, ISBN:

Kirchmeir H. 12/2018: Implementation of an Erosion Risk Assessment tool on pilot regions in the Southern Caucasus. The Programme „Integrated Biodiversity Management, South Caucasus”

7.3 Vínculos a la información relevante disponible en línea

Título/ descripción:

The European GeoNode system

URL:

http://pegasosdi.uab.es/geoportal/

Título/ descripción:

Monitoring Manual for Highland Pastures in the Caucasus

URL:

https://biodivers-southcaucasus.org/uploads/files/Monitoring%20Manual%20Draft%20ENG_new%20%20amendments%20for%20Georgia_v9_acc.amend.pdf