Today, December 5, the world celebrates World Soil Day, highlighting the importance of protecting and restoring fertile soils for a sustainable future. In Central Asia, this issue is particularly urgent: land degradation, soil erosion, and climate change directly affect ecosystems, agriculture, and local communities.
In this context, the RESILAND CA+ projects, implemented with the support of the World Bank and international partners, represent the largest regional initiative aimed at restoring degraded landscapes.
Kyrgyzstan
The RESILAND Kyrgyzstan project focuses on reducing landslide and flood risks across 21 high-risk sites in the country. The first areas in Jalal-Abad region have already been assessed for protective forest belts and slope stabilization. As part of the national project “One Village – One Product”, a training center and store opened in Osh, where local entrepreneurs learn marketing, packaging, and digital skills to promote village products.
Tajikistan
The RESILAND Tajikistan project includes laboratory modernization, development of new training programs for foresters and pasture specialists, and forest restoration over more than 6,000 hectares. Saxaul planting and fuelwood plantations strengthen ecosystems. Within the gender program, 15 young women and 2 doctoral students received scholarships, and 748 community interest groups actively involve women in project areas.
Uzbekistan
The RESILAND Uzbekistan project aims to restore over 253,000 hectares of forests and pastures, implement slope terracing, develop ecotourism, and create a sustainable base for local communities. Fences have been installed on 800 hectares of pastures, employing 30 local residents, and seedlings are cultivated in nurseries with about 90% survival rates.
Each national RESILAND project not only helps restore soils and ecosystems but also strengthens regional cooperation, harmonizes environmental policies, and develops online platforms for data exchange across Central Asia.
World Soil Day reminds us that healthy soils are essential for food security, sustainable development, and human well-being. The RESILAND projects demonstrate how collective action can achieve tangible change on the ground.