Initial situation/Land use, sustainable agriculture, and value chains

The use of natural resources, especially farm land, pastureland and forests, shapes both socio-economic development and the state of ecological systems in Central Asia. Against the backdrop of growing land use conflicts, increasing climate volatility and the loss of traditional forms of land management, concepts of sustainable, biodiversity-preserving agricultural and land use are increasingly becoming the focus of scientific and development policy projects.

The projects listed in this section examine key issues relating to the interaction between land use, ecological functions and resilience. The Agriwanet project analyzes the effects of water scarcity and agricultural reforms on agricultural systems in five Central Asian countries. CROSSGRASS is dedicated to the spatio-temporal dynamics of grassland ecosystems under the influence of climate variability and political framework conditions. At the same time, practice-oriented projects such as JuniperCA or the project on walnut forest use in Kyrgyzstan focus on participatory approaches to sustainable management and resource use.

Particular importance is attached to projects on agrobiodiversity, which are being implemented in Tajikistan and Usbekistan, among other places, with the aim of preserving the genetic diversity of agricultural crops, promoting local adaptability and strengthening food security in the long term. In addition, this thematic area also includes projects that deal with the research of agricultural and forestry value chains. The focus here is on questions of sustainable use, processing and marketing of these chains. The aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of existing approaches to promoting environmentally friendly and economically viable production systems in the region.