The Kyrgyz National Agrarian University named after K.I. Skyrabin (KNAU) and the University of Eastern Finland embarked on a tree-planting operation on the KNAU campus in Bishkek. Trees planted included cedar, oak, chestnut, apple and apricot. The trees are planted on the site of a demonstration fish farm that is being constructed by the two universities within the framework of the FishEDU - Capacity Building for Fisheries and Aquaculture education in the Kyrgyz Republic, funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland under the HEI ICI (Higher Education Institutions Institutional Cooperation Instrument) administered by the Finnish National Agency of Education.
In addition, to trees, vegetables including zucchini, cucumber, corn, sunflower, lettuce, parsley and dill are being planted on the dyke of a carp pond in the demonstration fish farm. This is to function as an example of integrated fish farming, lessons of which were learnt from cooperation between the FishEDU project and the Sundardeep Women Fish Farmer’s Cooperative through a project implemented by Food and Forest Development Finland (FFD): Women for entrepreneurship and resilience- transforming fish-farming and forest value-chains in Nepal, also funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
“KNAU and UEF have collaborated on developing fisheries and aquaculture education in the Kyrgyz Republic for over a decade. The cooperation is aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals 2: Zero Hunger, 4: Quality Education, 13: Climate Action and 14: Life below Water, which are especially important topics for the Faculty of Science and Forestry at UEF,” says Dean Jukka Jurvelin.
“Funding for the tree seedlings and vegetable seeds was provided by the Embassy of Finland in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan. Greening of the demonstration fish farm and the Bishkek campus encourages students and staff of KNAU to care about the treatment of trees and environmental issues within their campus community, and demonstrate to the wider community that fish farming activities can be well integrated with other types of farming,” says Rector, Professor Rysbek Nurgaziev of KNAU.
“The University of Eastern Finland aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025.Through our own sustainability actions, we also wish to inspire our partners to recognise the importance of nurturing and celebrating the environment. Tree-planting activities such as these, help transform campus communities in having a positive and sustainable impact on the environment,” underlines UEF’s Director of Planning and Development Soili Makkonen.
The FishEDU demonstration fish farm aims to serve as a hub for developing fisheries and aquaculture not only in the Kyrgyz Republic, but also in the wider Central Asia region. Construction activities that were delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic have now resumed, with KNAU and UEF positively projecting that the demonstration fish farm will be open this coming summer.
More information:
fishedu@uef.fi
Facebook: FishEDU
