ALM UNDP

Summary:

###### Background The project will focus on the Burevestnik village, a rural community in Naurzum District, Kostani Oblast, in the northern part of Kazakhastan. The Burevestnik village, in earlier times, encompassed the largest wheat production collective in the Soviet Union, and vast expanses of virgin land were developed for agriculture, including a system of man-made damps (oases). Presently, the livelihoods consist of subsistence grain production. The oases, which were formerly managed by communal farm, have fallen into despair. In addition, gully development and steppe fire have led to land degradation, which threatens the fragile soils of the region, as well as silting the oases. Similar to other areas in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, the village has long-term climate change projections which include increase in temperatures, especially in the winter, and evapotranspiration in the summer. Climate change will add to these pressures, as increasing aridity makes soils more erosive, and heightens the risk of steppe fire. The UNDP CBA project will seek to reduce the community’s vulnerability to declining water availability by integrating climate change risk management into sustainable agriculture and oasis management. The project will build on activities to reduce land degradation, and to revitalize the oases through infrastructure repair and developing new community-based institutional structures for their management. Baseline outcomes to be supported by co-financing include restoring degraded land through the elimination of erosion-causing ravines, establishment of herbs and bushes to reduce land degradation, and through training workshops for degradation-control practices/technologies to the community. Sustainable water supplies for the local communities will also be established/restored through the reconstruction of the damps (oases) and have them sustainably functioning, the development of community-based institutional framework for oasis management and sustainable water supply, and the training of the CBO on oasis management, setting principles for local water governance, and establishment of the CBO’s legal status for managing water with local government. There will also be training workshops for the communities on water and soil resources management in a climate-resilient manner, and on how local communities can incorporate climate change risks into the oasis management. Lastly, alternative livelihood practices will be implemented in pilot sites through demonstrations on drought-resistant grain production practices, drought-resistant vegetable production practices, and water-saving technologies.

Image(s):