CAMCA Project Conference – Transboundary Corridors & Dialogue
| November 11th, 2025 | News
As the CAMCA project wrap ups, there’s growing momentum to carry its successes forward. After months of planning, the CAMCA partners welcomed a wide range of stakeholders – government representatives, national park managers, protected area field rangers, NGOs, and community representatives from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan – to Bishkek on October 22 and 23. This capstone conference focused on upscaling results, mobilising additional resources, policy reform, and future transboundary cooperation.
Building on these collaborative efforts, CAMCA also held two journalist training workshops on covering environmental issues – one in Kazakhstan and one in Tajikistan –along with a similar training held in Kyrgyzstan during the Vanishing Treasures project. Our skilled facilitators and grant alumni from all three countries were able to join the conversation and network with their peers from across Central Asia.
Link to Short Facebook Videos by Dilbar Ismatova (in Russian): Interview 1, Interview 2, Interview 3, Interview 4
Kicking off the event, GRID-Arendal delivered a keynote address on the future of global mountain biodiversity. A high-level panel then outlined opportunities for ecological corridors within and between countries, and UNEP provided an update on the project activities. Stay tuned as videos, reports, and tools debuted during the conference are launched to the public in the coming months and at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) held for the Convention of Migratory Species (CMS) in March 2026.
For the remainder of the afternoon, the conference featured four parallel sessions to discuss technical aspects of the project in greater detail. These roundtable and panel discussions had excellent audience participation – thanks to everyone for the valuable input!
| Community Engagement in Climate-Resilient Wildlife Management | This panel showcased community-based, climate-resilient approaches for wildlife management and relevant CMS tools, while enabling participants to share challenges, solutions, and practical recommendations. |
| Transboundary corridors: a closer look | This roundtable session examined governance, management, community involvement, and monitoring for developing a transboundary corridor between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. |
| From Local Assessments to National Policy | This roundtable session shared lessons from piloting tools to assess the climate vulnerability of communities, species, and ecosystems, explored options for scaling and policy integration, and developed recommendations for incorporating CAMCA findings into national climate and biodiversity conservation strategies. |
| Sustainable financing | This panel discussion provided a “menu” of options to help secure sustainable financing for biodiversity and climate adaptation in CAMCA countries, with stakeholders sharing lessons and outlining next steps for regional mechanisms. |
In the morning of Day 2, project partners who moderated the parallel sessions provided a quick summary and presented a suite of recommendations from the discussions. Participants broke out into three groups – one for each country – to continue discussions on which recommendations should be prioritized in their country. The conference concluded by reviewing a collective Statement of Intent, wrapping up our general conclusions and commitments for future action across four main themes – Protected Area Resilience, Climate-Smart Ecological Corridors, Community Resilience & Adaptation, and Climate-Smart Grazing Management.
You can read the Statement of Intent and other meeting documents at the CMS website.
At the end of the conference, participants were treated to a special final event – an afternoon celebration of International Snow Leopard Day, held annually on October 23. Hosted by the Kyrgyz Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, several panellists showcased innovative communication tools, including the virtual reality exhibit developed for Vanishing Treasures, which takes participants up to the mountains to set camera traps, along with global social media campaigns with the Snow Leopard Trust (#23for23) to raise awareness of this important mountain symbol. The conference ended on a high note with an interpretative dance about snow leopards and mountain wildlife by Kyrgyz school children that truly stole the show!
