Zarafshan National Park Introduces Digital Patrol System

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — A five-day training session on introducing the SMART patrol system has been completed at Zarafshan National Park, GIZ reported.

The training was held from 13 to 17 July in cooperation with the Department of Protected Natural Areas under Uzbekistan’s National Committee for Ecology and Climate Change and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) as part of the regional programme “Climate Risk Management in Central Asia.”

SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool) is a digital system designed to manage patrol activities and support decision-making in protected areas. Using the system, inspectors electronically record patrol routes, detected violations and wildlife observations with geographic coordinates. The collected information is transferred to a centralized database and analyzed to support management decisions related to biodiversity conservation.

The training was attended by inspectors, technical specialists and database operators of the national park. Following the programme, rangers will replace paper patrol logs with secure smartphones equipped with the SMART Mobile application, which allows field data to be collected with accurate GPS coordinates and sent directly to the database.

The sessions were conducted by Michael Hötte, an ecologist and international wildlife conservation expert from the Netherlands. All participants received certificates upon completion of the training.

The training was the first in-person practical event of the programme implemented by GIZ on behalf of the German government.

At the next stage, park inspectors will collect patrol data using SMART over six months, while database operators, together with specialists from the Department of Protected Natural Areas, will verify and analyze the information.

Based on the collected data, the first comprehensive SMART Patrol analytical report will be prepared.

The report will provide the national park management and the National Committee for Ecology with a comprehensive overview of patrol results, recorded violations and biodiversity monitoring, serving as a factual basis for strengthening nature protection and resource management.