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ADB Projects on Combating Land DegradationTechnical Assistance: Capacity Building to Combat Land Degradation in People's Republic of China The project is expected to build capacity to support efforts to reduce land degradation and restore dryland ecosystems in the western region. It is assisting the Government to mainstream Integrated Ecosystem Management (IEM) and establish an effective system of integrated natural resource management. The project is assisting the Government strengthen its institutional capacity for integrated natural resources management, establish a monitoring and evaluation system and implement demonstration projects that test and demonstrate an integrated approach to land management. Under the project provincial level, strategies to combat land degradation were prepared for provinces and autonomous regions: Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi and Ningxia. The project is due for completion in December 2009. Read more.Proposed Loan: Forestry and Ecological Restoration Project in Three Northwest Provinces in People's Republic of China This proposed project aims to enhance and restore the productive and protective functions of degraded dryland ecosystems leading to improved livelihoods, reduced land degradation and biodiversity conservation along the path of the historic Silk Road stretching from Shaanxi and Gansu provinces in the east to Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous region in the west of PRC. The corridor spans three distinct ecological zones: the Loess Plateau, the central mountain region, and the oasis areas in Xinjiang. The proposed project components include : i) mainstreaming Integrated Ecosystem Management (IEM) into investment project development to maximize positive impacts on land degradation, carbon sequestration and biodiversity protection; ii) capacity building for forest-based sustainable land management and iii) developing innovative reforestation interventions embracing the IEM approach to combat land degradation and to improve measurement and understanding of land degradation processes and related biodiversity and climate change indicators. Read more. Loan 2436: Ningxia Integrated Ecosystem and Agricultural Development Project in People's Republic of China This proposed project will contribute to restoring the productive functions of the ecosystem resources of the Helian Mountains in Ningxia Province. The project will introduce an IEM approach for the sustainable and commercial utilization of natural resources for agriculture, livestock production and eco-tourism purposes. It aims to improve environmental management in Ningxia to rehabilitate ecosystems, provide sustainable livelihoods, and increase rural income in Yinchuan area. Read more. Proposed Technical Assistance: Management and Policy Support for Combating Land Degradation in Dryland Ecosystems in People's Republic of China: The proposed technical assistance project will build on the achievements of the ongoing Capacity Building to Combat Land Degradation Project. The project will strengthen the enabling environment, consolidate progress and promote an integrated approach to reducing land degradation, alleviate poverty and conserve biodiversity while restoring, sustaining and enhancing, the protective and productive functions and services of dryland ecosystems resources in the western region of the PRC. The TA will further promote IEM to be mainstreamed in the PRC's development policy and improve sustainable land management (SLM) practices at national, regional, and local levels and enable up-scaling of SLM investments that generate mutual benefits for the global environment and local livelihood sources. Read more. Regional Technical Assistance No. 6357: CACILM Multicountry Partnership Framework (CMPF) Support Project The overall objective of the CMPF Support project is the restoration, maintenance and enhancement of the productivity of land in the CACs leading to improved economic and social well-being of those who depend on these resources, while preserving the environmental functions of these lands in the spirit of UNCCD. Achieving this objective requires the successful implementation of national programs of the CACs that were developed in national programming frameworks (NPFs) formulated under CACILM. Partnership framework support is necessary for the implementation of the national programs to be done in a way that ensures a comprehensive and integrated approach to sustainable land management across the CACs. The project contributes to improved capacity of the institutions in Central Asia to adopt integrated land use planning and management; and long-term sustained harmonized commitments of financial and human resources through mainstreaming of sustainable land management in donor programs for Central Asia. The outputs of the project include:
Loan 2245/2246: Land Improvement Project in Uzbekistan Land degradation is a serious economic, social, and environmental problem in Uzbekistan and the rest of Central Asia. It directly affects the livelihoods of the rural population by reducing land productivity, and by causing agricultural production losses estimated at $2 billion a year for the region. The Project addresses the rapidly worsening and expanding land degradation in nine districts in Bukhara, Kashkadarya, and Navoi provinces. The project area, covering 162,300 hectares (ha) of irrigated land, suffers from increased soil salinity and shallow groundwater table-the most serious forms of land degradation. Crop yields in these areas reportedly have declined by 30% since 1991. These problems are caused by (i) poor water management, (ii) deteriorating irrigation and drainage (I&D) infrastructure, and (iii) a policy environment that constrains production growth and reduces incentives to invest in land improvement. Worsening land degradation directly affects a rural population of 1.4 million in the project districts. To help the Government halt and reverse land degradation, the Project will (i) develop and disseminate improved land reclamation practices adapted to local conditions; (ii) strengthen institutions to address land degradation issues at central, provincial, and community levels; and (iii) improve land and water management infrastructure to enhance water control and efficiency. Through agreed policy reforms, the Project also will help to increase farmers' incentives to raise land productivity and invest in land, as well as improve rural governance. The Project also has a GEF-financed component through the CACILM program and will focus on creating additional local capacity and on introducing novel land rehabilitation activities that promise to have wide-ranging environmental benefits. Specifically, the GEF grant will (i) contribute to creating a regulatory regime that enhances incentives for land management in which national and global environmental considerations have a place, (ii) field-test and introduce methods of reusing return irrigation water for productivity and environmental gains, (iii) build the capacity of the agriculture sector of Uzbekistan for environmental analysis and management, and (iv) provide for a structured monitoring and evaluation of the Project's global environmental impacts and other impacts to increase the replicability of its most positive elements. Read more. Loan 2313: Rural Development Project in Tajikistan The Project is expected to increase the farm and nonfarm incomes of rural households and improve the productivity of farms and rural enterprises within an environmentally sustainable management framework. It has a sustainable land management component comprising of a set of linked activities that address the need for better land management by improving integrated pasture land and livestock techniques, enhancing capacity, and reversing land degradation. New techniques and approaches to grassland and livestock planning and management will be demonstrated to improve pasture land conditions within an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable framework. The pilot areas will serve as trial and demonstration areas preparatory to replication throughout the Project. The Project will establish pilot sites with different farming systems to demonstrate the application of the new pasture land and livestock planning and management techniques and rehabilitate and re-vegetate selected pasture lands. Monitoring protocols will be designed for farm-level planning and management of livestock production systems in pasture lands, including the impact on social organization. Local specialists will be trained and the monitoring systems implemented by concerned organizations, with repeated surveys of indicators at appropriate seasons and points in the production cycle. Finally, the methodology will be adopted and expanded within the project area. The Project, through the CACILM program co-financed by the GEF, will also pilot-test sustainable land management practices to develop and promote improved land reclamation and innovative on farm technologies; demonstrate enhanced agronomic practices for efficient and equitable water management; re-vegetate or rehabilitate selected areas; and undertake community forestry activities including selection and implementation of demonstration sites, establishment of user groups, training, and workshops. Read more. |
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