The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors yesterday approved a US$5.27 million Drylands Management Project for the Republic of Kazakhstan. The project will demonstrate the environmental, social and economic viability of shifting from the current unsustainable cereal-based production in dryland ecosystems to traditional livestock-based management. The project is funded by a grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Trust Fund, with additional contributions from other co-financiers and project beneficiaries of about US$4.43 million.
Expansion of cereal production into the Steppe region of Central Asia led to widespread land degradation. Many of these areas have either been abandoned or are producing grain yields that are now neither financially viable nor ecologically desirable. It leads to reduced biodiversity, endangers certain species, lowers carbon sequestration, adversely affects water quality and reduces water supply and leads to desertification.
The project will launch a set of activities in a pilot area of the Shetsky district of Karaganda oblast (province). It includes: (i) developing sustainable land use systems; (ii) providing initial service support to producer groups; (iii) improving national capacity to quantify and monitor carbon sequestration; and (iv) undertaking a broad public awareness campaign and develop a strategy so that project interventions could be replicated in similar areas of Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries.
The project will be implemented over a period of five years. By the time the project is completed, thousands of hectares of land abandoned in the transition years should be brought back to economic use, thus contributing to the poverty alleviation in the region. In addition, projected carbon sequestration by the perennials to be planted is of global significance, as it should help mitigate the greenhouse effect.
For more information on the World Bank’s work in Kazakhstan, visit
http://www.worldbank.org.kz
THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a mechanism for providing new and additional grant and concessional funding to meet the agreed incremental costs of measures to achieve agreed global environmental benefits in the four focal areas - climate change; biological diversity; international waters; and ozone layer depletion. GEF also supports the work of the global agreements to combat desertification and eliminate persistent organic pollutants.
The World Bank Group is one of GEF’s implementing agencies and supports countries in preparing GEF co-financed projects and supervises their implementation. It plays the primary role in ensuring the development and management of investment projects. The Bank draws upon its investment experience in eligible countries to promote investment opportunities and to mobilize private sector, bilateral, multilateral, and other government and non-government sector resources that are consistent with GEF objectives and national sustainable development strategies. Since 1991, the World Bank Group has committed $1.52 billion in GEF resources and $2.25 billion in Bank group co-financing for GEF projects in 80 countries. In addition to GEF and Bank resources, it has mobilized additional co-financing of $5.48 billion from other donors.
For further information on Bank’s GEF program, visit http://www.worldbank.org/gef.
For further information on GEF, visit http://www.gefweb.org.
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