Land Degradation in Central Asia

The five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) share common land degradation problems, due to their geographic proximity and the Soviet legacy of environmental mismanagement. Central Asia’s arid and semi-arid lands (dry steppe, semi-desert, desert, salt marshes) are particularly vulnerable to degradation of different types, particularly soil degradation (loss of fertility, salinization, waterlogging); degradation of pastures (due to overgrazing and excessive agricultural and timber harvesting); degradation of forests (due to illegal logging, fires, grazing, erosion); and erosion, landslides, and mudflows.

The desiccation of the Aral Sea, and its devastating effects on soil quality in the Aral Sea basin, are poignant illustrations of these problems, which directly affect the livelihoods and health of some 20 million inhabitants. Agricultural yields are reported to have declined by 20–30 percent across the region in the last decade. Annual losses of agricultural production from salinization alone are estimated at $2 billion. Central Asia’s dryland, mountain, and riparian biodiversity resources–many of which are globally unique–are under threat from population growth, particularly from rural populations desperate to sustain their livelihoods. Macroeconomic policy frameworks and poverty reduction efforts in these countries must increasingly integrate the sustainable land management practices needed to underpin long-term economic growth in rural areas, where most of Central Asia’s poor are located.

Camels trot where water once flowed: The desiccation of the Aral Sea. © Panos Pictures

Barriers to sustainable land management

Virtually all of Central Asia’s land degradation problems are anthropogenic in nature–they are caused by socio-economic policies and activities, and can be remedied by socio-economic and environmental policies directed at sustainable land management. Doing so requires addressing three key barriers:

Unsustainable agricultural and water policies: in particular, those pertaining to land tenure, administrative restrictions on crop production and sales, and access to agricultural inputs. The continued reliance on Soviet-era central planning instruments and institutions, particularly in support of Central Asia’s cotton monoculture, is particularly problematic in this regard. Equally important are the extremely high rates of per-capita water consumption reported in some Central Asian countries, reflecting unsustainable agricultural water-use practices.

Weak state capacity for designing and enforcing sustainable land-use practices: this operates at both the central and local levels. The design of land zoning and management regulations as part of local economic planning remains underdeveloped, and implementation is too weak. The unclear nature of land ownership across much of Central Asia–unresolved issues around  state ownership, leasing of land and uncertainties surrounding privately held land titles–magnify the capacity weaknesses facing efforts to limit unsustainable land use.

Inadequate environmental legislation: in particular with regard to forestry codes, water resource management, biodiversity, and nature conservation laws. Much of this legislation dates back to the Soviet period. While the modernization of environmental law has moved ahead quickly in some Central Asian countries, it has lagged in others.

Policy responses

With assistance from international development agencies, the Central Asian governments are moving to address these problems. While the nature and degree of policy responses differ across the countries, they reflect a growing concern that Central Asia’s economic growth during the past decade may not continue if the associated environmental problems are not better managed. Government officials and donors alike increasingly recognize that further reductions in rural poverty may require the adoption of more environmentally sustainable land- and water-use practices. Particularly important measures in this area include:

Land reform: when correctly designed and implemented, land privatization (including via long-term leases) can strengthen user incentives to invest in sustainable land-management practices (see the ‘Reforestation in Uzbekistan: Lessons from Nuratau’ companion article on pp. 5-7). Land reforms that began in Kyrgyzstan in 1993 contributed significantly to agricultural growth and land productivity in the 1990s.

Greater reliance on integrated land-use planning and management techniques in public investment projects and housing construction: these techniques can accelerate the adoption of sustainable land-use practices by households and businesses, in areas such as landscaping, guttering, water harvesting, and soil conservation.

Reforestation efforts: forests, which offer protection against soil erosion, landslides, and flooding, are under attack across Central Asia. Reforestation and (where appropriate) afforestation measures are urgently needed to combat this trend.

More and better human capital: increasing the numbers of rural communities with personnel trained in integrated land management is critically important. This often requires supplementing environmental agencies’ supervisorial functions with capacity development mandates, such as the development of agricultural extension services. (Whether such services would be able to keep talented specialists in the rural areas where they are most needed is another matter.)

More protected areas: the creation of nature protection areas where commercial activities are strictly forbidden, and better management of those protected areas where land, forestry, and other resources are harvested by local communities.

Including the private sector and NGOs: the delivery of many public services linked to land management can be outsourced from state agencies to the private sector and civil society. For example, the RIOD-Central Asia network¹ plays an important role in disseminating information and best practices in land management.

More funding: increased funding for sustainable land management activities is needed both in national budgets and in donors’ assistance programmes. The Central Asian Countries’ Initiative for Land Management programme², a $700 million initiative led by the Asian Development Bank with co-funding from the Global Environment Facility, supports comprehensive, integrated approaches to sustainable land management–based on better land zoning and management policies, as well as water conservation efforts.

The Central Asian Countries Initiative for Land Management (CACILM) With the support of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and other international donors, the five Central Asian countries have been working together to reverse land degradation within the framework of the Central Asian Countries Initiative for Land Management (CACILM). Formed in 2005, CACILM focuses on raising rural living standards via investments in soil conservation and improved land management, better land-use planning in public investment projects, and by increasing the numbers of rural communities and government staff that have adopted integrated land-management practices. UNDP contributes to this partnership by inter alia promoting sustainable rangeland and mountain pasture management in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and helping restore degraded lands in Karakalpakstan and the Kyzylkum desert in Uzbekistan. While these activities help local communities to better address environmental threats and raise incomes in rural communities, CACILM projects can also bring trans-national and even global environmental benefits. Reductions in vital soil loss can reduce the intensity and frequency of the dust storms that can blow across Central Asia’s arid steppes and deserts. Reducing soil and pesticide runoff into rivers helps protect water quality in the Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya rivers, which provide irrigation and drinking water for all five Central Asian countries, as well as for Afghanistan. To date the initiative has received $20 million in GEF funding. CACILM cannot all by itself reverse the pressures on Central Asia’s fragile ecosystems. But it offers increasingly effective mechanisms to allow governments and donors to work together to help moderate the effects of desertification. - UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre

Sustainable land management and macroeconomic policy

Macroeconomic policy frameworks and poverty reduction strategies in Central Asia increasingly recognize that sustainable land and water management policies are needed to increase the productivity of agricultural land, thereby boosting incomes in rural communities (where most of Central Asia’s poor reside). Uzbekistan’s 2007-2011 Welfare Improvement Strategy calls for increasing the size of landholdings cultivated by dekhan (household) farms through reductions in the role of shirkat (collective) farms, and a gradual transition away from growing cotton towards other crops, particularly on marginal lands. Some 18 percent of the public investment budget is to be devoted to rehabilitating irrigation systems and procuring instruments for more efficient water usage, such as introducing meters for water consumption.

Kyrgyzstan’s 2006-2010 Country Development Strategy regards declining land productivity and reductions in land area under cultivation in recent years as major development challenges. The Strategy calls for strengthening rural property rights by completing land privatization and accelerating the development of secondary land markets. This should allow more land holdings to pass from state and collective farms to more productive private farmers. More efficient water use via the rehabilitation and modernization of Kyrgyzstan’s irrigation system, combined with the expansion of water user associations (co-responsible for maintaining these irrigations systems), is also envisioned.

Tajikistan’s second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (for 2007-2009) likewise emphasizes the renovation of irrigation and drainage systems and support for water users associations, in order to reclaim degraded areas and increase the amount of land under cultivation. In contrast to Uzbekistan’s Welfare Improvement Strategy and Kyrgyzstan’s Country Development Strategy, however, Tajikistan’s PRSP is largely silent on questions of more efficient land-tenure regimes and water usage.

Economic policy frameworks and poverty reduction strategies in Central Asia focus heavily on public investment projects–particularly for irrigation and flood control–in addressing the causes of land degradation. As important as such measures may be, they should not divert attention from much-needed changes in policy environments and legal frameworks, or from the need for increases in skilled specialists in land and water management in the state, private, and third sectors. Some of these changes are under way, but immense problems with their implementation remain.

The authors are affiliated with UNDP’s Bratislava Regional Centre. Vladimir Mikhalev is Policy Adviser in the Poverty Reduction Unit. Ajiniyaz Reimov is the UNDP manager for the Environment and Security Initiative.