CACILM partners with the DSL-IP for a restored region

The rangelands of Central Asia are described as the largest contiguous area of grazed land in the world, serving as an important source of livelihood for pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in this region. These rangelands are also important in carbon regulation as they absorb CO2. 

However, unsustainable management of rangelands has led to their degradation, thus reducing their agro-ecological, environmental, and socio-economical potential [1].

As an executive partner of the DSL-IP and lead of the Regional Exchange Mechanism in Central Asia, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is coordinating efforts with the Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia building on past and existing initiatives in the region on natural resources management. These include dryland management, knowledge management, and regional policy dialogue on dryland restoration, and seek opportunities for scaling up.

To ensure impact across the region, IUCN works closely with the Central Asian Countries Initiative for Land Management (CACILM), a partnership between Central Asian countries and the international donor community that focuses on combating land degradation and improving living standards in the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The DSL-IP builds on CACILM to scale up knowledge for rural communities and other stakeholders, and to foster regional policy dialogue on dryland restoration around the topic of sustainable pasture management. 

Since the beginning of the project, the DSL-IP and the REM country projects (Kazakhstan and Mongolia) have engaged with CACILM through events focusing on sustainable pasture management, including a webinar on sustainable management of pasture resources in Kazakhstan and a regional workshop on gender. The DSL-IP, IUCN, and CACILM also collaborated on a regional dialogue held under the auspices of the 21st Session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD CRIC 21). This regional dialogue aimed to gain a common understanding of the nature-based solutions and seek opportunities for land management and monitoring for ecosystem and community resilience. A study tour for cross learning purposes between Kazakhstan and Mongolia is currently being discussed. 

Causes of rangelands degradation according to the Central Asian Countries Initiative for Land Management (CACILM) include increase in livestock numbers, inappropriate flock structure, overgrazing and early grazing, breakdown of traditional land management protocols that regulate grazing, limitations on the herd mobility along the traditional corridors across national boundaries, insufficient introduction of rangelands rotation, and poor management of rangeland infrastructures.  
CACILM and the DSL-IP will amplify the work being done on sustainable pasture management in Mongolia and Kazakhstan increasing knowledge sharing for future investment and development opportunities in the region, strengthening dryland restoration Initiatives in Central Asia. The latter work will create momentum for the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) taking place in 2026. 

^[1] Mirzabaev, A., Ahmed, M., Werner, J. et al. Rangelands of Central Asia: challenges and opportunities. J. Arid Land 8, 93–108 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-015-0057-5