Initial situation/Biodiversity and nature conservation

The Central Asian region is home to a remarkable diversity of ecosystems - from the steppes of Kazakhstan to the cold winter deserts of Turkmenistan and the high mountains of the Pamir. These ecosystems are not only of global ecological importance, but are also essential for the provision of key ecosystem services such as climate regulation, erosion control and water storage. At the same time, biodiversity in the region is increasingly exposed to anthropogenic and climatic stress factors.

The projects presented here are dedicated to the protection, sustainable use and scientific evaluation of this biodiversity. Large-scale conservation initiatives such as Altyn Dala and CADI pursue the goal of securing endangered habitats in the long term. In addition, scientific-political interface projects such as the IPBES Assessment for Europe and Central Asia address the need for evidence-based biodiversity policy action. Conceptual considerations on the establishment of a regional biodiversity platform also reflect current discourses on the promotion of transdisciplinary cooperation structures in the field of biodiversity conservation.

Publications and information platforms

Publikations

• Volis, S. (2023). Conservation of Central Asian plant biodiversity. Plant Divers. Cent. Asia, 2, 6-39. REVIEW Article
• Nowak, A., Świerszcz, S., Nowak, S., Hisorev, H., Klichowska, E., Wróbel, A., Nobis, A. & Nobis, M. (2020). Red List of vascular plants of Tajikistan–the core area of the Mountains of Central Asia global biodiversity hotspot. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 6235. Research Article

Projects

project name	duration	country	executive organisation	funding	objective
Central Asian Desert Initiative (CADI)	2016-2022	UZB, KAZ, TUR	Succow Stiftung	Internationalen Klimaschutzinitiative (IKI); BMUV	Protection and sustainable use of cold winter deserts
National Project Yashil Makon (“Green Land”)	2021-2030	UZB	Republic of UZB	Republic of UZB	Planting of 200 million trees and bushes annually until 2030
Strengthening the network of protected areas in Uzbekistan's Ferghana Valley	2021-2023	UZB	Succow Stiftung	Ciritial Ecosystem Partnership Fund; WWF	Study flora and fauna of the sandy areas in the provinces of Fergana and Namangan in order to increase their conservation value.
JuniperCA	2019-2022	TJK, KGZ	Institute for Landscape Planning and Ecology, University of Stuttgart	BLE;Forschung für internationale, nachhaltige Waldbewirtschaftung	optimization of forest management in the biodiversity hotspot of the Pamiro-Alay-System. focusses on juniper stands in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Altyn Dala: Conservation Initiative	2009-ongoing	KAZ