International Conference Raised Awareness on Cold Winter Deserts

Author: Rustam Murzakhanov, Succow Foundation.

On 2-3 December 2021, an International Conference on Cold Winter Deserts took place as a hybrid event in Tashkent. The conference was organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the State Forestry Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan in cooperation with the University of Greifswald (Germany) and the Michael Succow Foundation within the framework of CADI project. The main aim was to foster international collaboration in raising awareness of the importance of cold winter desert ecosystems.

For this purpose, approx. 100 participants from research institutions, universities, NGOs and GOs as well as environmental protection agencies attended the conference. A total of 62 abstracts on biodiversity conservation, sustainable land management, ecosystem services, food security, and water use in cold winter deserts in Central Asia were presented in the thematic sessions and the poster session of the conference. The publication of full papers will be prepared in 2022.

Within the thematic session on biodiversity, the impact of border barriers on Goitered Gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa) in Kazakhstan has been assessed and discussed. To improve the situation, the establishment of a “Southern Ustyurt” cluster of the Ustyurt State Nature Reserve was recommended. The natural-scientific justification for the establishment of the cluster, including the Kaplankyr chink, was developed by the ACBK within the CADI project and submitted to the Forestry and Wildlife Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The establishment of such a cluster can serve as the basis for the establishment of a transboundary protected area between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in the future.