Central Asian states launch program to reverse desertification

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2006

MANILA (AFP) — Five former Soviet republics have launched a 1.4 billion-dollar program funded by development lenders and aid agencies to halt and reverse the spread of deserts in Central Asia, the Asian Development Bank has said. Over the next 10 years Philippines-based ADB will coordinate overall activities of the Central Asian Countries Initiative for Land Management involving Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, a bank statement said.

Land degradation from overgrazing, soil erosion, salt damage to irrigated land, and desertification is a serious problem in these countries, directly affecting the livelihood of nearly 20 million rural inhabitants, it added. Farm yields are reported to have plunged 20 to 30 percent across the Central Asian region...