Climate-Adaptive Land Use Practices

Within the framework of the Regional Ecological Summit (RES), a thematic session titled “Climate-Adaptive Land Use Practices” was held. The main focus of the discussion was combating land degradation—one of the key ecological threats in Central Asia, leading to desertification and reduced food security.

To ensure high-quality monitoring, a unified soil service has been established in Kazakhstan on the basis of the State Institute for Land Survey Works. As part of the development of electronic maps, the agency has already updated data covering an area of 53.5 million hectares. According to the latest data, the area of actually degraded land in the country amounts to 2.7 million hectares.

Vice Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mansur Oshurbaev, emphasized the scale of current challenges in his speech.

“Today, climate change is no longer a forecast for the future, but a reality faced by Kazakhstan and the entire world. Rising temperatures, increasing frequency of droughts, changes in precipitation patterns, and extreme weather events directly affect agriculture. Under these conditions, land use issues come to the forefront as one of the key instruments of adaptation. For Kazakhstan, climate challenges are systemic in nature. They affect not only the natural environment, but also the economy, food security, and social stability,” he noted.

During the session, it was highlighted that the goal of the new national policy is to introduce soil-conserving technologies, develop regenerative practices, and ensure effective water resource management. This will help strengthen the ecological condition of soils and ensure access for Kazakhstani products to markets with strict ecological requirements.

Particular emphasis was placed on the development of carbon farming. According to Mansur Oshurbaev, soil carbon holds a special place in this work.

“It plays an important role both in climate regulation and in maintaining soil fertility and the sustainability of agriculture. Therefore, Kazakhstan considers carbon farming as one of the promising areas that allows combining the objectives of adaptation, productivity enhancement, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,” added Mansur Oshurbaev.