ASTANA – Land degradation is among the biggest threats to Central Asia, making the region susceptible to drought, sand and dust storms, and overall economic decline, which demands a unified approach across the region, said the lead scientist at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Barron Joseph Orr in an interview with The Astana Times. Land degradation in Central Asia

In a report prepared by the UNCCD science team Olga Andreeva, Xiaoxia Jia and Orr, land degradation in Central Asia is described as secondary salinization in the irrigated lands, soil erosion in the rainfed and mountainous areas, loss of vegetation and detrimental change in the vegetation composition in the rangelands.

“Landscapes in Central Asia are among the most rapidly degrading and climate-vulnerable areas worldwide. According to data reported by governments to the UNCCD, over 20% of the total land area in Central Asia is degraded, equivalent to roughly 80 million hectares, an area almost four times the size of Kyrgyzstan. This affects an estimated 30% of the region’s combined population,” said Orr.

The causes of land degradation are varied but are widely attributed to unsustainable agricultural practices, the expansion of crop production to fragile and marginal areas, inadequate maintenance of irrigation and drainage networks and overgrazing near settlements.

“Aridity [high evapotranspiration and less rainfall and surface water] and winder weather are two major natural factors that form vulnerability of the Central Asia region. Vegetation loss and water scarcity are two major stresses caused by unsustainable land use. Central Asia is exposed to extreme weather events and natural disasters caused by climate change and human activities such as intensive agriculture, illegal logging, and unsustainable pasture/livestock management, and unprotected mining,” said Orr.

Kazakhstan’s context

Scientific studies show that 78% of the total land of Kazakhstan is vulnerable to land degradation, ranking first in the Central Asia region, making it a major source area of sand and dust storms.

The steps taken by Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries on sustainable land management reflect a growing awareness among regional leaders of the critical role that land depletion may play in water security.

“The issues of healthy land and water security are interlinked, but for Central Asian countries, this is a regional issue. For example, Kazakhstan is dependent on its neighbors for water: 90% of the surface water of Kazakhstan originates from neighboring countries. Kazakhstan also holds the largest areas of agricultural land, much of which relies on irrigation, making intergovernmental cooperation the key to ensuring healthy land, water security and food security through integrated policies and actions,” said Orr.

“As for today, all five Central Asia countries have committed to achieving Land Degradation Neutrality (LND),” said Orr.

UNCCD defines LDN as a “state whereby the amount and quality of land resources necessary to support ecosystem functions and services and enhance food security remain stable or increase within specified temporal and spatial scales and ecosystems.”

“They have also committed to conservation, sustainable land management, and restoration under their Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris agreement, the Bonn Challenge forest commitments, as well as biodiversity conservation commitments,” added Orr.

Orr also highlighted Kazakhstan’s regional dialogue initiatives working closely with other Central Asian countries, particularly a long-term vision of the Regional Strategy for Sand and Dust Storms Management in Central Asia for 2021–2030, which aims to reduce the vulnerability of Central Asian countries and communities to the effects of sand and dust storms.

“The success stories in Central Asia are being shared within the region and globally. More than 100 sustainable land management technologies and approaches that have been successfully applied in the region have been shared by the government and non-government agencies that introduced them to the global network known as WOCAT (World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies) which hosts an open-access and global database for sustainable land and water management technologies, practices and experiences,” said Orr.
Science is essential to identify and monitor drivers of desertification and highlight the most appropriate actions to stop it.

“This great ambition will only be possible with data. It would be advisable to invest more into knowledge generation and monitoring of the existing land and water resources, starting with soils, but also including water, snow and biodiversity resources,” said Orr. READ further from the source