In Central Asia, governments and international organizations have undertaken significant efforts since the 1990s to inventory, develop, and promote sustainable land management (SLM) practices, which encompass both traditional methods specific to the region and innovative approaches aimed at mitigating and addressing emerging risks and issues stemming from climate change and land degradation.

Over the years, UNCCD-spearheaded activities in Central Asia have included the preparation of national action programmes (NAPs) to combat desertification, the setting of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) targets, the development of national drought policies and regional drought and sand and dust storms (SDS) management strategies, the preparation of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions in the context of sustainable development and climate change-related actions.

In these factsheet, available in English and Russian, you will find fact and figures for the region and individual countries.
Central Asia is located in the heart of Eurasia and includes five independent countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It is the only region in the world that is composed entirely of landlocked developing countries. Its total area is 400.8 million ha and the population exceeds 75 million (the population has tripled over the
past 50 years). Statistically, the region can be classified as sparsely populated, as there are approximately 17 people per square kilometre.

Over the past century, there has been a significant increase in human-induced pressure on land, evident in the deforestation, expansion of irrigated lands, heightened water extraction for industrial and domestic purposes, substantial growth in the animal population, and consequently, increased grazing pressure on pastures. All these factors, combined with the arid climatic conditions, have resulted in land degradation, a reduction in productive water resources, and the depletion of fertile soils Population growth has also contributed to these phenomena, as a continual increase in agricultural production to ensure food supply was needed, as well as the expansion of production to provide employment opportunities.
This adds up to 420 million hectares, or 4.2 million square kilometers, slightly over the combined area of five Central Asian nations: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turk- menistan and Uzbekistan. If current trends continue, restoring 1.5 billion hectares of land by 2030 will be necessary to achieve a land-degradation-neutral world. Alternatively,
halting any new land degradation and accelerating existing commitments to restore 1 billion hectares can surpass the neutrality target.