Comparison of practices

• Use of water resources
• Use of land resources
• Environmental protection

Use of water resources

Country: Turkmenistan

Country: Kyrgyzstan

17,238 ha of barkhan (sand dune), takyr (dry-type playa) and solonchak (moist-type playa) sites of the Kara Kum Desert; deep ground water occurrence

Start date: 01.01.2012

End date: 31.12.2016

Start date: 01.02.2017

End date: 31.12.2017

Desertification and decreased productivity of desert pastures due to over-grazing around existing cattle watering sites

Insufficient level of objectivity while selecting candidates, i.e. selection of final candidates not based on their knowledge and skills but illicitly

Technology of building sardobas (stone-dome covered water collection and storage reservoirs) to enhance pasture water supply

Technique of knowledge assessment

Main actions:

• mudflow and flood risk assessment and surveying local population regarding sardobas’ locations.

Actions:

• selection of takyrs to construct sardobas jointly with local cattle-farmers;
• construction of sardobas jointly with local cattle-farmers;
• cleaning takyr surfaces.

Results:

• pastures that were not previously utilized due to absence of water sources returned to pasture rotation;
• pastures destroyed due to over-grazing started to restore;
• increased herd productivity due to reduced passage distances and higher fodder value of pastures.

Actions:

The participants were offered to undergo 2 exams (written and oral) within the framework of the Olympiad.  Finalists of the written test could go on to the oral exam.

Results:

1 student was selected from among the candidates to participate in subsequent Regional IWRM Olympiad and the International Summer School “Methods and Means of Assessing, Modelling and Monitoring the Water and Land Resources of Central Asia” to take place in Almaty City.

Lessons learnt:

Construction of sardobas in takyr areas allows enhancing pasture water supply, thus, leading to the restoration of over-grazed pastures.

Recommendations:

The practice requires long-term planning and an integrated response with the early-on engagement of desertification experts (designing a set of measures to protect takyrs from sand drifts), state agencies (technical assistance) and pasture users (observance of pasture rotation schemes, prevention of takyrs from contamination and pollution).

Formally, this competitive practice is routine while selecting the personnel/specialists for international and national projects, but their unbiased selection is not achieved in all cases. Quite often, various types of project participants are selected by way of “pulling strings” or based on the instruction of upper-tier agencies.

Traditional tools transferred from generation to generation that proved their efficiency in modern conditions

• Domestic tools (outcomes of research by domestic R&D organizations),
• Foreign tools (transfer of foreign experience)

1. Cost of implementation: Low

2. Approximate cost of investment per 1 ha: $1,000-5,000

3. O&M costs: Low

4. Expert support: Needed at implementation stage

1. Cost of implementation: High

2. Approximate cost of investment per 1 ha:

3. O&M costs: High

4. Expert support: Not needed

Project title: Responding to climate change risks for dekhan farming system of Turkmenistan on national and local levels.

Project duration: 2012-2016. 

Project goal and objectives: build the adaptation capacity to respond to climate change impacts, including variability on local and national levels. 

Project beneficiaries: Bori Settlement (over 1,100 people) and Bo-Kurdak Settlement (about 4,500 people).

Project implementer: Ministry of Nature Conservation and UNDP

tm.undp.org

http://www.water.kg/index.php/ru/itemlist/category/93-seminary-i-treningi 

SIC ICWC

SIC ICWC