Sustainable Pastoralism and Rangeland Management in Central Asia

Abstract The huge rangelands of Central Asia, comprising Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, are critically important to both the economy of the region and the subsistence of its inhabitants. Pastoralism, which is a historic part of the societies of the region, makes an important contribution to national Gross Domestic Product and provides jobs for about one-third of the population. Unfortunately, the economic importance of these rangelands comes at a time when serious environmental problems confront them, as deterioration has affected about 60% of the agricultural areas. The cause of this deterioration is mainly overgrazing, aggravated by new patterns of land use, the inevitable effect of climate change, and a continuing lack of implementation of policy. This paper will examine some of the difficult issues facing these regions, such as land insecurity, impediments to traditional movement, and the aggravating occurrence of violent weather phenomena. At the same time, it will examine different avenues of approach to the problems, such as community based rangeland management, and legislative changes. By means of reviewing current reports and policies for 2024 and 2025, the opportunities for achieving sustainability will be pointed out by means of co-operating regional and community effort, new technology and international co-operation. The report indicate that the problems of environmental deterioration remain, but that, as shown by the legislation for herders in Mongolia and the change in land code in Kazakhstan, there are opportunities for restoring some resilience. The leading recommendations are active support for rotated grazing schemes and use of traditional ecological knowledge to increase ecosystem service and provide subsistence in the light of worsening climate change.