Uzbekistan marks three decades of GEF and UNDP partnership ahead of Eighth GEF Assembly in Samarkand

As Samarkand prepares to host the Eighth Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) alongside ECO EXPO Central Asia 2026, Uzbekistan is emerging as a contributor to regional and global environmental solutions, according to a blog by Akiko Fujii, UNDP Uzbekistan Resident Representative. The country joined the GEF partnership in 1995 and has since advanced its commitments under the Rio Conventions on climate change, biodiversity, and desertification, as well as the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. For more than three decades, the GEF and UNDP have worked alongside the Government of Uzbekistan, national institutions, academia, civil society organizations, and local communities. Together, they have delivered a portfolio of over 20 initiatives worth more than 40 million USD. The cooperation reflects a tripartite partnership that links environmental action with livelihoods and long-term development.

The partnership has addressed interconnected challenges including biodiversity loss, land degradation, climate change, and environmental pollution. GEF-supported initiatives have restored ecosystems in the Aral Sea region and conserved globally significant biodiversity. Other projects have advanced sustainable urban transport, expanded access to renewable energy solutions, and supported environmentally sound management of chemicals and waste. Few places symbolize environmental tragedy and resilience more powerfully than the Aral Sea region, once one of the world’s largest inland seas. The region is increasingly becoming a place of innovation and restoration.

Through the GEF-supported Aral Sea Wetlands Project, implemented by UNDP together with the National Committee on Ecology and Climate Change, efforts are underway to restore wetlands, strengthen water and land management, and support climate-resilient livelihoods across the Lower Amudarya basin. The initiative has supported the restoration of degraded landscapes through saxaul planting on six thousand hectares. Biodiversity conservation efforts are being strengthened across protected areas covering more than four million hectares. A joint initiative of the National Committee on Ecology and Climate Change, UNDP, the GEF, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) EcoLand will extend restoration to other regions of Uzbekistan. A new joint initiative on the implementation of the Stockholm Convention will strengthen the sound management of hazardous chemicals and waste.

In Tashkent, support for sustainable urban mobility helped advance the country’s first green transport corridor, reducing emissions by up to 24,000 tons of CO2 annually and increasing public transport use by up to 30%. Through the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN), UNDP has worked with governments to identify financing solutions for biodiversity and ecosystem restoration. In Uzbekistan, cooperation is entering a new phase through a Biodiversity Finance academic module developed with the Central Asian Green University.

As Fujii noted, “Building a green future will require not only technology and investment, but also new skills, new knowledge, and a new generation of professionals capable of linking finance with sustainability.”

For nearly two decades, the GEF Small Grants Programme in Uzbekistan has shown how locally led solutions can generate environmental, social, and economic benefits.

The next operational phase of the GEF Small Grants Programme will contribute to Uzbekistan’s new targets under the National Biodiversity Strategy, fully aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). The country’s environmental agenda is increasingly focused on building resilient landscapes, strengthening green growth, investing in sustainable finance, empowering local communities, and fostering regional cooperation across Central Asia. The Eighth GEF Assembly and Eco Expo 2026 in Samarkand offer an opportunity to reflect on progress and shape future partnerships and investments. The message from Uzbekistan’s growing environmental leadership emphasizes resilience, opportunity, and a future in which people and ecosystems thrive together. The gathering arrives at a defining moment for Central Asia’s green transition.