Drylands Management Project

The overall development objective is the conservation, rehabilitation and sustainable utilization of natural resources in marginal cereal growing areas in the Shetsky Rayon of Karaganda Oblast in Kazakhstan. In support of this objective, the project, with the active participation of local communities, will assist the Government of Kazakhstan to: (i) develop alternate land uses that are economically feasible, socially acceptable and ecologically sustainable, while, at the same time, rehabilitate ecosystems for the conservation of important plant and animal species; (ii) develop a coherent framework and national capacity to quantify and monitor carbon sequestration under different land use systems; and (iii) build institutional capacity, promote public awareness and develop a replication strategy so that project activities could serve as a model and be replicated in similar areas of Kazakhstan and the Central Asian Region.