Published on: 2026-08-26
Source: United Nations – United Nations –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
August 26, 2026 Climate and Environment
A quiet crisis is unfolding in the vast expanses in the heart of Eurasia. The Central Asian region was once famous for its endless steppes and fertile oases, but now it is one of the world’s largest hotspots of land degradation. This is stated in a new report by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
More than 80 million hectares have already degraded – about a quarter of the region’s territory. For comparison, this is roughly four times the area of Kyrgyzstan. Nearly 30 percent of the population – 24 million people – live on land that is literally dying beneath their feet.
Behind the dry figures lies a very concrete reality. For a farmer, land degradation means a poor harvest. For a livestock breeder, it means a pasture with less and less grass. For an entire family, it means the loss of a source of income, and sometimes the need to leave their native places. The annual damage from land degradation in Central Asia is estimated at two to six billion dollars.
And the climate only intensifies the pressure. Central Asia is warming at about twice the rate of the planet on average. Over the past half-century, glaciers — the region’s natural “water towers” — have decreased by approximately 30 percent. Rivers and oases, which have supported life for centuries in one of the driest areas of the world, are under increasing threat.
When the earth turns to dust
One of the most notable manifestations of the crisis is sand and dust storms. Drought and heat dry out the soil, the wind lifts the fertile layer into the air, along with it – salt from the dried-up bottom of the Aral Sea and dust from degraded pastures and abandoned fields.
These clouds can travel hundreds and thousands of kilometers. They destroy crops, disrupt transportation, pollute soil and water, and pose a threat to human health. In Kazakhstan, almost 78 percent of the territory belongs to areas of increased desertification risk.
The most dramatic example of what can happen with irrational use of natural resources is the Aral Sea. Once one of the largest lakes in the world, by the early 2000s it had lost about 90 percent of its volume. In place of the water, a new desert – the Aralkum – has formed. The area of the dried seabed exceeds 5.5 million hectares, and annually the wind lifts from there into the atmosphere from 15 to 75 million tons of salt and fine dust.
But it is Aral today that shows that even after an environmental disaster, a reverse path is possible.
Saxaul is planted on the drained bottom, which secures the soil and reduces the spread of dust. In the northern part of the Aral Sea, the volume of water has increased from 18.4 to 23 billion cubic meters since 2023, and it is planned to increase it to 34 billion in the future.
Five countries – five approaches
Across the region, local methods to restore life to the land are already being tested. In Kyrgyzstan, pastures are increasingly managed by local communities themselves: they set grazing norms and allocate collected funds to infrastructure. By 2030, the country plans to restore 300 thousand hectares of degraded land. In mountainous Tajikistan, orchards are being planted on unproductive slopes that simultaneously yield crops, retain moisture, and help protect settlements from mudflows.
In Uzbekistan, two million hectares of the drained Aral Sea bed have already been planted with saxaul, and drip irrigation is used on one million hectares. Kazakhstan is developing the restoration of agricultural lands and carbon farming. Turkmenistan utilizes centuries of experience living in the desert – from stabilizing shifting sands to creating green protective belts.
Moreover, this is not only about the environment. More than 80 million people live in Central Asia, half of whom are under 30 years old. Land restoration can create jobs where people live: in forestry, irrigation, pasture management, and climate-resilient agriculture. According to estimates cited in the report, every dollar invested in land restoration can yield up to five dollars in return over 30 years.
The Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, Yasmin Fouad, emphasizes that it is primarily about the well-being of people. “Investment in land health is investment in people: it promotes job creation, strengthens livelihoods, reduces migratory pressure, increases water security, and fosters more resilient communities across the region,” she stated.
According to her, effective methods of combating desertification are well known – now the main task is to expand their application. “This report represents not only an analytical review but also a call for collective action,” noted the head of the UN CSD.
In Central Asia, water, land, and people’s lives are so closely intertwined that problems cannot be solved separately or within national borders. Dust does not stop at border checkpoints, rivers flow through several countries, and glaciers provide water to millions of people far from mountain peaks. That is why, as Yasmin Fouad writes, “ecosystems unite countries far more strongly than state borders divide them.”
Today, the issue is no longer just how many hectares Central Asia will be able to restore. The question is whether the land on which future generations can live will be preserved.
Please note; This information is raw content obtained directly from the information source. It represents an exact report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.