Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

Valuation of Ecosystem Services for Improving Agricultural Water Management

in KazakhstanVinay Nangia, Ph.D.

Lead Agricultural HydrologistInt’l Center for Ag. Res. in Dry Areas (ICARDA)

Amman, Jordan

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

Study location

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

BackgroundChardara reservoir was constructed:

in southern Kazakhstan in 1965 for irrigation and hydropower generation. reservoir also supports many fragile

ecosystems such as: • fisheries and livestock• riparian forests and rangelands• human population• tourism

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

Background (cont’d)

But the volume of water in the reservoir fluctuates by as much as 10-12 times from winter to summer period, and return flows from irrigated agriculture are rich in nonpoint source pollutants and adversely affect the downstream users of this water

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

Site characteristicsSouth Kazakhstan Province Turkestan city administration

area

Population in 2012 2,734,700 244,100Population density 22,4 person per km2 33,0 person per km2

Total area, thousand km2 117.2 7.4

Number of agricultural units in 2012 74,050 4,968

Total cultivated area (ha) 772,183.8 38,944.1

Soil types Grey soils and grey brown soils Bright southern and ordinary serozems, sand and gravel

Agro climate characteristics Dry arid zone Dry arid foothill zone

Annual precipitation Plain – 50-250 mm, foothill – 750 mm 180-200 mm

Average air temperature January -9.6°C in the north part,

-0.9°C in the south partJuly +20/+30°C

January -10/-15°CJuly +35/+40°C

Main economic drivers Agriculture Tourism, agriculture

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

Project builds on existing researchThe Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC) has a GEF-funded 2 year project in area aimed at creating cooperation mechanisms between local stakeholders to enhance ES provisioningCAREC built linkages between nature reserve, farmers, herders, schools and a local NGO WQ and Landscape aesthetics main ES

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

The nature reserve committed to develop a plan for rational pasture management in its buffer zone to limit soil erosion and grazing in the Khantagi riverbed

Water points were built on remote pastures to destock degraded rangelands

The nature reserve held trainings on alternative sources of income such asgreenhouse construction and management, and promoted the use of water-saving technologies (drip

irrigation)

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

Hypothesis of this study• Improving agricultural water management

will lead to improvement of other downstream ecosystem services sharing same water, and

• through the identification and valuation of main water-related ecosystem services, a plan can be developed for payment for improvement of agricultural water management

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

Objectives

Identify key drivers of water use and water-use change in the lower Syr Darya River Basin and their economic impact on water users;Develop a set of mechanisms, including incentive-based ones, to promote improved water uses, with a focus on women-led, agriculture-based, income-generating activities;Mainstream project results into development planning and policy making of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

Methodology• Baseline assessment

Ag. water management modeling (SWAT)Stakeholder mapping (GIS)Drivers of water uses (survey)

• Improvement activitiesCap. building and women empowermentDev. Incentive-based mechanismApplication of H2O-saving technologies Cap. building of policy makers

Uniting agriculture and nature for poverty reduction

OutputsDatabase of stakeholders and water usersMS these on value chains and VESWell-calibrated SWAT model estimating DischargeN, P, KPesticidesSediment

Trade-off options under different scenarios of changing ecosystem services provisionPolicy briefs

Thank you