Leveraging Synergies from integrative land-biodiversity-climate action for improving monitoring, reporting, and investments into sustainable agri-food system transformations in Central Asia

ABOUT US

The proposed study will seek to address the following mutually supportive set of specific questions, which will be discussed with the relevant national government organizations and policy makers during the launch of the study for ground-validation and fine-tuning, such as the extent and costs of land degradation in Central Asia and land degradation hotspots, as well as total financing needs and current funding gaps for restoring degraded lands in Central Asia, including under the national commitments for land restoration in LDN, NDC, NBSAP/GBF and Bonn Challenge action agendas. The project aims to identify degraded locations provide the highest returns for land restoration investments. The projects also aims to evaluate how the costs and benefits from the current segmented approach to land restoration compare with the costs and benefits of nationally coordinated planning and implementation.

Period of Implementation

Dec 15, 2023 - Dec 31, 2024

Total Budget

USD 91,400.00

Project team

Akmal Akramkhanov

ICARDA

Akmal Akramkhanov is senior scientist at ICARDA with over 15... see more

Rustam Pulatovich Ibragimov

ICARDA

Shakhzoda Umarova

ICARDA

Partners

International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas - ICARDA

International Rice Research Institute - IRRI

Donors

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit - GIZ

International Rice Research Institute - IRRI

OUR IMPACT

Goals

-Demonstrating the social, environmental, and economic benefits of integrated land use planning under land use-climate-biodiversity nexus -Identifying hotspots for implementation of this joint programming (e.g., sustainable management and restoration practices) for the most cost-efficient implementation and achievement of national targets -Providing evidence-based advice for improving current integrative land use monitoring systems -Conducting a deep-dive case study in Uzbekistan, demonstrating the financial, institutional, and policy mechanisms how the land use-biodiversity-climate change synergies could be implemented into practices.

Objectives

The study aims to evaluate the costs and benefits of a joint national programming and coordinated implementation of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAP) regarding their land restoration and sustainable land management activities in the five Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Economic scenarios will be elaborated to demonstrate possible pathways to leverage synergies among the target processes, including on how financing can be pooled and invested much more efficiently to help close the funding gap for sustainable land management (SLM) and ecosystem restoration.

Problems and Needs Analysis

Climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation are closely interrelated. None of these three challenges can be effectively addressed in a siloed manner, neither at national nor at global levels. If global warming is not limited to 1.5°C, climate change will likely become the dominant cause of decreasing crop and livestock productivity, lower agricultural incomes, and biodiversity loss in the coming decades, including Central Asia. Land degradation and the loss of intact ecosystems also impact rainfall patterns and more frequent and severe extreme weather events like droughts, floods, and sand and dust storms. In a world grappling with these interlinked challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation, the need for coordinated action has never been more apparent.

Intervention Strategy(ies)

The project will involve case studies and workshops where various presenters share their reflections and activities.

Impact Pathway

The project will include activities the organization of inception workshop, regional analysis, preparation of Uzbekistan case study, validation workshop Developing the Central Asia policy brief, co-organizing a side-event and developing a methodological guideline for global application.

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