Supporting rural development in the Aral Sea Region

Context

The climate-sensitive economic development of the Aral Sea region is threatened by a disregard of ecological sustainability and by insufficient cross-border cooperation. The continuing overuse of land and water resources is leading to increasingly detrimental conditions.

It remains difficult for land users to create economically viable alternatives to their resource- and water-intensive cultivation methods and livelihood strategies.

Objective

The Uzbek and Kazakh governments promote the climate-resilient economic development of the Aral Sea region across borders and incentivise the diversification of livelihood strategies among the local population.

Approach

The project:

• Supports the public and private sector in identifying and piloting sustainable business activities to showcase and inform about environmentally friendly production and income generation. Examples are (1) to transform commercial exploitation of the environmentally unsound collection of wild liquorice root into environmentally friendly and climate-resilient production; (2) to introduce water-saving technologies; and (3) to promote crop diversification to use limited resources more efficiently.
• Improves capabilities in the effective use of geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing in public planning and investment processes. Through GIS, academic and governmental institutions can use digital tools and improve the planning, implementation and monitoring of water and crop management, afforestation of the dried Aral Seabed, nature conservation, wildlife monitoring and eco-tourism.
• Provides support in conducting Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) for territorial development plans in the four target regions in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Last update: September 2023