Experience in implementing major national projects to combat degradation and desertification in Russia

Abstract

The article presents the historical stages of the formation of agroforestry in the steppe and semi–desert regions of Russia, as well as international cooperation and projects aimed at combating drought, degradation and its extreme degree of development - desertification. The post-war years of drought and famine (1946–1947) became significant. In 1948, the Government of the USSR adopted and began to implement the “Plan for the Transformation of Nature”, which allowed to create a solid base for crop production and animal husbandry. The aggravation of droughts, degradation and desertification of farmland, in which territories become risky for agricultural production, gave impulses to the development of international cooperation and joint actions to prevent and eliminate these phenomena. The most productive in this sense was the period 1995–2000. Within the framework of the UNEP project “Support for activities to combat desertification in the CIS countries”, 6 subregional national action programs to combat desertification (NPCD) were funded in the amount of more than 600 thousand dollars, an assessment of the environmental, socio-economic consequences of desertification was given. The measures of the “General Scheme to combat desertification of Black Lands and Kizlyar pastures” in 1986–2001 carried out phytomeliorative work on an area of about 720 thousand hectares and prevented the formation of 700 thousand hectares of floating sands.

Keywords

• Degradation
• Desertification
• Agroforestry development
• Forest belt
• Soil fertility
• Food security