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Central Asian Countries Initiative for Land Management (CACILM)

The GM has been working closely with the Central Asian Countries (CACs) of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, since 2001. In response to the severity of the problem of land degradation and poverty, the GM spearheaded the establishment of the Strategic Partnership for UNCCD Implementation in Central Asian Countries (SPA) - a multi-donor consortium designed to enhance collaboration between the CACs and their external partners.

The following bilateral and multilateral institutions are SPA members: the Asian Development Bank (ADB); the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA); the CCD Project of the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ); the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD; the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA); the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC); United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Bank (WB).

The major outcome of the SPA is the Central Asian Countries Initiative for Land Management (CACILM) - a Global Environment Facility (GEF) ten year, multi-country, multi-donor programme promoting sustainable land management (SLM). CACILM was developed together with the CACs, the SPA and other institutions, with the ADB at the helm. The GM supported the process financially, technically and by mainstreaming Sustainable Land Management (SLM) into select SPA members programming frameworks. The GM was also instrumental in negotiating the financing package for the launching phase.

It is anticipated that over 10 years an estimated USD 1.4 billion will be invested in SLM-related activities in the CACs. The launching phase is being financed with approximately USD 155 million with contributions from the countries (USD 25m), the GEF (USD 20m) and development partners (USD 110m).

Each CAC has developed a National Programming Framework (NPF) for tackling the root causes of desertification. The outcomes anticipated as a result of implementing activities under the NPFs, are:

a favourable environment for increasing investments in SLM by mainstreaming SLM into policies, legislation, institutions and incentive frameworks;
improved institutional capacity to adopt integrated land-use planning and SLM approaches;
rehabilitation and higher productivity of selected lands, leading to improved livelihoods, foreign exchange earnings, food security and reduced pressure on threatened ecosystems;
enhanced ecosystem integrity and ecosystem services; and
broader involvement of civil society and other stakeholders in the UNCCD implementation process.

Benefiting from economies of scale, specific activities will be undertaken at the multi-country level to complement national actions, including:

capacity-building for mainstreaming SLM and ensuring integrated SLM planning and management;
development of an SLM information system;
SLM research; and
information dissemination and knowledge management.

For more information, please contact:

Mr Roshan Cooke, Programme Coordinator, Asia and Pacific
Tel. +39 06 5459 2156
ro.cooke@ifad.org