Transboundary Joint Secretariat (TJS III)

completed

After the second phase of the Transboundary Joint Secretariat (TJS) was deemed successful by the environmental ministries of the South Caucasus and KfW, and there is still demand for the services of the TJS, a third phase (Transboundary Joint Secretariat, Third Phase) is to be financed from an FC grant of EUR 5.0 million from the 2014 budget (Caucasus N.A., budget item 89601). The World Wide Fund For Nature Germany (WWF-Germany) has pledged to provide services amounting to around EUR 0.2 million as a further donor. In this third phase, the World Wide Fund For Nature Caucasus Programme Office (WWF-CauPo, executing agency) is to further develop the Ecoregional Conservation Plan (ECP) as a cross-border, ecoregional nature conservation strategy and to promote its implementation in the South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, project region) (module objective). The aim is to contribute to preserving biological diversity in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia without reducing the standard of living of the rural population in the long term (overall objective). The target group is the population of the project region. The project is part of the BMZ's Caucasus Initiative, which attaches particular importance to promoting cross-border communication and cooperation. Against this background, the project is intended to make a contribution to conflict reduction and crisis prevention through, among other things, cross-border cooperation in the sector (secondary objective). Investments are being made in various FC projects as part of the BMZ's Environment priority program. Since 2007 (first phase), the TJS has acted as a regional link and technical supplement in order to address not only national but also regional challenges in the sector. The third phase builds on the results achieved so far. The expected outputs are (1) Sector reports and continuous sector analyses will be provided to the BMZ and the German development cooperation institutions by a sector observer. (2) A participatory method for the socio-economic promotion of protected area residents is widespread and will be further developed if necessary. (3) Nature reserves are promoted as destinations for ecotourism and integrated into economically and ecologically sustainable tourism approaches. (4) The Ecoregional Conservation Plan (ECP) has been updated and further developed, taking into account new developments in the sector, experiences from various projects and the concerns of civil society and the environment ministries. (5) The Special Operational Fund (SOF) has been further developed and is used as a financing instrument for measures with cross-border objectives or effects.