On June 12-14, 2017 the EO4EP representatives carried out a scoping mission to Chisinau, Moldova, to meet with authorities responsible for forest management as well as representatives of the World Bank Country Office. The aim of the visit was to specify common areas of interests and an action plan for implementation of the EO-based services in the context of the World Bank-led “Moldova Climate Change Adaptation” project.
EO4EP held a meeting with the National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry (ICAS) which is national level unit responsible mainly for forest management, ecological reconstruction and watershed management as well as other environmental management activities in the territory of Moldova.
Under the “Climate Adaptation” project ICAS is tasked to implement activities that will support integrated participatory forest and pasture management planning at the community-level, as well as to lead investments in afforestation and rehabilitation of community lands and pastures in six priority districts. Providing EO-based up to date maps of forests along with information about possible and identifiable threats related to climate change (water stress), human impact (illegal logging) and pest infestation are the main points of collaboration for EO4EP. Furthermore, ICAS is interested in an update of existing maps of pastures and estimation of pastures productivity.
The meeting with ICAS representatives allowed also to clarify the preliminary needs concerning EO4EP workshops and capacity building support package.
In addition to ICAS, several other Moldovan public institutions and authorities have been identified as potential beneficiaries of EO4SD technical assistance including civil protection for crisis management and flood protection, as well as climate change monitoring and research organizations such as national state hydrometeorology service (SHS).