Klara Dzhakypbekova

• Land use and food security
• Environmental and climate change
• Economic change and vulnerability
• Ecosystem services
• Sustainable use of natural resources
• Biodiversity
• Agriculture, land use, climate change

• Uzbekistan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Tajikistan
• Kazakhstan

05/2017 - 10/2019

Project Coordinator, SUSWALFOOD Project

Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences, Kleve, Deutschland

08/2015 – 10/2015

Research Assistant, Center for Development Research  (ZEF), Bonn, Deutschland

10/2013 – 08/2014

Research Fellow, University of Central Asia (UCA), Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

10/2014 – 06/2017

M.Sc., Agricultural Sciences

Agriculture and Resource Management in Tropics and Subtropics (ARTS)

Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany 

09/2012 – 06/2014

Master diploma: Agricultural management

Kyrgyz National Agricultural University (KNAU),

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

09/2007 – 06/2012

University diploma: International Economic Relations

Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University (KRSU),

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Email: klara.dzhakypbekova@gmail.com

The ex-ante assessment of innovations in the waltnut-fruit forests in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia

The walnut-fruit forests on the Ferghana and Chatkal mountain ranges in Kyrgyzstan are considered as a global biodiversity hotspot and have important soil-protection and water regulating functions, and are the main source of income to the local households. Compared to the earliest available forest inventory results in 1897 the current area of the walnut-fruit forests decreased by 47,5%. An intensive walnut collection, overgrazing, illegal wood logging are considered as the major factors. Several innovative practices and interventions were introduced over the last decades to improve the use of the walnut-fruit forests in Kyrgyzstan. As the collection of walnuts and other NTFPs constitute an important share of the local livelihoods the efficient value-chains might improve the socio-economic welfare of the local livelihoods, promote sustainable forest management and reduce deforestation. Thus the importance of participation in the international markets and the certification practices are currently the priority interventions, such as Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) NTFP certification or Fair Trade certification practices introduced as pilot cases. Both aiming the goals of improving the socio-economic welfare, sustainable forest utilization, and conservation of the walnut forests.

However, the variables for sustainable use and commercialization of the NTFPs are known to be context-dependent and pose varying trade-offs among different socio-economic and ecological variables. A comprehensive approach is important in analyzing the sustainability of NTFP utilization within the whole complexity of the socio-ecological systems and the external impacts of the power relations on the socio-political level.

This research analyses the impact of the ongoing interventions on the forest ecosystems and the socio-economic welfare of the local population by applying the socio-ecological analysis framework and the agent-based modeling (ABM) tool to investigate the gaps and opportunities for the sustainable functioning of the complex socio-ecological system within the walnut forests in Kyrgyzstan.

Prof. Dr. Dietrich Darr, Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences (HSRW)

Prof. Dr. Christian Borgemeister, Center for Development Research (ZEF)

Dr. Grace B. Villamor

ZEF_CV_Dzhakypbekova.pdf [PDF | 197.08KB]