Given the specificities of the eastern European and Eurasian GSP members, a sub-regional soil partnership within the ESP was created covering the Eurasian sub-Region and chaired by the Russian Federation. The 13 countries composing the Eurasian Soil Partnership are the following: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkey, Tukmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. A specific implementation plan for the GSP priorities has been developed at sub-regional level for Eurasia, and partners agreed that the main goal for the EASP should be the implementation of sustainable soil management practices at a wider scale, especially in areas affected by soil salinity.

Together with national authorities and relevant stakeholders/partners, FAO has already been supporting the development of prospective programmes for achieving this goal. One example is FAO’s support for the formulation of a multi-country project on ‘Upscaling Integrated Natural Resources Management in drought-prone and salt-affected agricultural production landscapes in Central Asia and Turkey’ (11,000,000 USD, 5 years) under GEF-6.