DUSHANBE (TCA) — National consultations organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Tajikistan on May 17 will assist local and international partners to integrate resilience strategies into their policies and action plans, and adopt and expand the use of climate-smart agriculture practices. The project corresponds to achieving one of its five Strategic Objectives – namely to “make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable” in Central Asia and Turkey, said the office of FAO in Tajikistan.
The national consultations are held under the project “Integrated natural recourses management in drought-prone and salt-affected agricultural production landscapes in Central Asia and Turkey” financed by Global Environment Facility (GEF), aimed at development of mechanisms to minimise pressures and negative impacts from drought and salinity, reduce risks and vulnerability to climate change, and enhance capacity to cope with or adapt with environmental changes.
This project will assist Central Asian countries, including Tajikistan, in tackling challenges related to desertification, land degradation and drought, climate change, and biodiversity. The main objective is to scale up the best land use practices developed in the region, and to integrate these approaches into the existing government mechanisms.
“Adoption of integrated landscape management approaches and practices should help to stabilize and even reverse trends of soil salinization, reduce erosion, improve water capture and retention, increase the sequestration of carbon and reduce loss of agro-biodiversity,” said Mr Viorel Gutu, FAO Representative in Tajikistan.
The project will also reinforce cooperation and partnership among countries in the region, in particular in the area of policy and investment decisions for drought-prone and salt-affected landscapes.
