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US$1.4 billion partnership launched to combat land degradation in Central Asia
16 November, 2006
Five Central Asian countries have joined with more than a dozen development cooperation partners in Almaty, Kazakhstan, to launch a US$1.4 billion programme to restore, maintain and enhance the productivity of degraded land, so as to improve the livelihoods of local communities.
This initiative is rooted in a robust partnership between the Central Asian countries and donors established to implement the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought (UNCCD).
Over the next 10 years, the Central Asian Countries Initiative for Land Management (CACILM) will adopt sustainable land management practices to reverse land degradation in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is the lead agency and - subject consideration of its Board - will coordinate overall activities of the partnership.
In the five countries, land degradation – from overgrazing, soil erosion, salt damage to irrigated land, and desertification – is a serious problem which directly affects the livelihoods of nearly 20 million rural inhabitants. Agricultural yields are reported to have declined by 20–30% across the Central Asian region over the last two decades or so. Available data shows that about 60 - 70% of the total area of both Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan is highly susceptible to land degradation; while salinized irrigated areas account for 50% in Uzbekistan and 37% in Turkmenistan.
There has been mounting concern among Central Asian countries’ governments and the international community alike over the issue of land degradation, and actions to tackle it have been intensified. All Central Asian countries have either ratified or acceded to the United National Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and have developed National Action Programmes (NAPs) to combat land degradation. As a group, the Central Asian countries have since developed the Sub-regional Action Programme for Central Asian Countries on Combating Desertification and Drought (SRAP-CD) with the assistance of the CCD Project of GTZ and the UNCCD Secretariat.
The difficulties encountered in implementing the NAPs and SRAP led the Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (GM) to spearhead the formation of a partnership of development stakeholders to formulate and operationalize a sustainable and coherent strategy for UNCCD implementation. At the beginning of 2001, the partners adopted a concerted plan of action – of which one of the key milestones was the establishment of CACILM.
CACILM is being catalyzed by $20 million of grant financing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), approved in August 2006. “This project brings together a unique blend of partners between countries and donor agencies to tackle land degradation, one of the most critical environmental problems in Central Asia,” says Monique Barbut, CEO and Chairperson of GEF, which also serves as a financing mechanism for the UNCCD.
CACILM programme areas and activities will be based on each country's National Programming Framework (NPF) and carried out both at the national and multi-country levels. Committed funding up to end of 2008 is approximately $155 million divided between the countries ($25 mil), GEF ($20 mil) and donors ($110 mil).
"It has taken the concerted effort of all CACILM partners over the last five years to build the CACILM Multicountry Partnership Framework," says Robert Everitt, an ADB Senior Natural Resource Management Specialist, "Now, with secured funding from GEF and other development partners, the CACILM Partnership offers Central Asian countries an excellent opportunity to systematically combat land degradation and improve rural livelihoods."
National projects and activities will focus on priority areas, namely:
- sustainable natural resource management in rangelands, forests and woodlands
- sustainable agricultural practices in irrigated and rainfed areas
- land rehabilitation in the region of the former Aral Sea
- biodiversity conservation and protected areas management and
- capacity building for enhancing land use planning and the enabling policy, legislative, institutional and incentive frameworks.
Multi-country activities will include integrating sustainable land management into planning, developing a land management information system, research, and knowledge management and information dissemination.
The CACILM partnership is being launched with an initial 8 priority national projects and 2 multi-country projects:
- Kazakhstan-Rangeland Ecosystem Management
- Kyrgyz Republic-Integrated Agricultural Development and Land Improvement, and Mountain Pasture Management in Susamir Valley
- Tajikistan-Rural Development and Demonstrating Local Responses to Combating Land Degradation and Improving Sustainable Land Management in SW Tajikistan
- Turkmenistan-Capacity Building and On-the-ground Investments for Integrated and Sustainable Land Management
- Uzbekistan-Achieving Ecosystem Stability on Degraded Land in Karakalpakstan and the Kyzylkum Desert and Land Improvement
- CACILM Multi-country Partnership Framework Support and CACILM Multi-country Capacity Building Project
A Multi-country Steering Committee comprising the members of the CACILM partnership and other international organizations and guided by National Coordination Councils, will be responsible for coordination.
The development cooperation partner members of CACILM are:
- Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
- CCD Project of the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (CCD Project of GTZ)
- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
- Global Environment Facility (GEF)
- Global Mechanism of the UNCCD (GM)
- International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA)
- International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
- wiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC)
- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and
- World Bank.
The Islamic Development Bank and the UNCCD Secretariat have also participated in the formulation process.
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