LocationsWorkshop in Tashkent marks the signing of a merit-based scholarship agreement for the first cohort of students and the handover of BIOFIN coursebooks to the university library
UNDP and Green University Move the BIOFIN Academic Module from Design to Delivery
October 9, 2026
Photo: UNDP Uzbekistan
Tashkent, 8 October 2026 – The UNDP Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) and the Central Asian University of Environmental Studies and Climate Change (Green University) today held the BIOFIN Academic Module Operationalisation and Faculty Capacity-Building Workshop at Green University in Tashkent. The event brought together more than 30 participants, including students, academic staff and representatives of the UNDP Country Office in Uzbekistan.
The story behind the workshop begins with a plan and a problem. Uzbekistan's Biodiversity Finance Plan, published in late 2024, set out 11 priority finance solutions for nature, but it also revealed a shortage of professionals able to turn biodiversity goals into financial strategies. BIOFIN, the UNDP global programme that since 2014 has helped more than 130 countries measure, plan and mobilise finance for nature, has been active in Uzbekistan since 2021–2022.
The answer that UNDP BIOFIN and Green University found was to teach it. Established by Presidential Decree in May 2023 under the National Committee on Ecology and Climate Change, the university was among the first to be supported by UNDP. Together, with the generous support of the Government of Switzerland, the partners built a Biodiversity Finance Academic Module worth 10 ECTS credits and some 280 learning hours, delivered in a blended format over one semester. It follows the BIOFIN 2024 methodology, from policy and institutional review and expenditure review to financial needs assessment and the biodiversity finance plan, and students are assessed through a policy brief, a group project and a final examination. Offered within Green University's Master's programme in Sustainable Finance, it is the first module of its kind to embed the BIOFIN methodology in a university curriculum.
The module was officially launched on 3 June 2026 in Samarkand, at Eco Expo Central Asia 2026 and in parallel with the Eighth GEF Assembly. Today's workshop was the next chapter: making sure that an approved module is taught well, assessed fairly and sustained over the years.
Photo: UNDP Uzbekistan
That was the main objective of the morning: to help Green University turn design into delivery. Participants worked through the institutional adoption of the module, academic responsibilities for teaching it, the practical application of the assessment strategy, and the mechanisms for module evaluation and quality assurance that will keep it improving and sustainable in the long term.
The tone was set at the opening. Welcoming the guests, Vice-Rector of Green University, Professor Saidjakhon Khasanov, stressed that lasting results depend on institutional ownership. "Our objective is to ensure that BIOFIN becomes not merely a project-based initiative, but a sustainable and fully integrated component of Green University's academic environment," he said.
Photo: UNDP Uzbekistan
UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Uzbekistan, Mr. Anas Fayyad Qarman, took up the same thread, reminding the room that this was the moment where the module's design becomes delivery. "A well-designed curriculum is not yet a well-taught course," he said. "Biodiversity finance will not be built by plans alone, but by people who understand them. That is what we are investing in today."
Photo: UNDP Uzbekistan
Then words gave way to signatures. In the highlight of the ceremony, UNDP and Green University signed an agreement on the provision of UNDP financial support in the form of a merit-based scholarship to the first cohort of students of the Biodiversity Finance module. For the pioneering students who are the first in Central Asia to study the subject, it is a practical sign of both partners' commitment to the module's success.
The ceremony continued with a gift for the shelves: UNDP handed over 25 hard copies of the BIOFIN Workbook 2024 to the Green University library, where they will serve as coursebooks and be available to students, faculty and researchers for years to come.
The rest of the morning looked ahead. In four working sessions and a closing discussion, participants reviewed a plan of action to further develop the academic and technical capacities of the Biodiversity Finance department under the Master's in Sustainable Finance programme, covering who teaches and coordinates the module, how students are assessed, and how quality is monitored. The outcomes, including an implementation framework and action matrix, will be shared with all participants and owned by Green University.
More information about the programme is available at www.biofin.org.
