CDE - Pamir-Alai

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More Information Staff Partners Publications/media Database Contact		The Pamir Strategy Project (PSP) The Pamir mountains in Tajikistan are an extremely isolated high-mountain region. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 brought independence to Tajikistan as well as the other republics of Central Asia. The cessation of large-scale Soviet support and the subsequent transition from a planned economy to a market economy led to profound changes in these countries. Marginal mountain areas such as the Pamirs have been particularly affected by the process of political and economic transformation. Currently, the economic situation in the Tajik Pamirs is characterised by persistent poverty and a high level of dependence on external humanitarian support. Encouraged by the various efforts of the population in the Pamir Mountains, which were long supported by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and other organisations, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) agreed to fund preparations for a strategy of sustainable development in the Tajik Pamirs as a model for sustainable development in mountain areas. As a prerequisite for the elaboration of a sound development strategy, it was considered necessary to generate a knowledge system providing information on the current state, trends and mechanisms of social and ecological systems. To accumulate the necessary knowledge, different field studies and surveys involving more than 25 local and foreign experts were carried out in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) in the summer of 2001 and part of 2002. In cooperation with agencies of the AKDN and the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED), baseline information was gathered for 10 strategic sectors of the GBAO. Local conditions and processes were appraised to gain an in-depth impression of livelihoods and resource management. Selected villages in the GBAO were evaluated by carrying out participatory fieldwork and studying household and community strategies, applying the methodology of the Sustainable Development Appraisal (SDA) [link auf spezifische CDE Seite]. To enhance the PSP’s analytical capacities, a Geographic Information System (GIS) was developed and information from the studies was integrated as far as possible. Based on this, different spatial models were elaborated and development options compared. This helped both in understanding key problems and supporting the development of a shared vision. On the basis of this knowledge, a strategic vision for the region was negotiated with all concerned stakeholder groups in a workshop in the GBAO in October 2002. This four-day workshop addressed six strategic sectors, involved five stakeholder levels, and provided a platform for exchange across disciplinary boundaries that generated action-oriented knowledge by taking into account specific stakeholder-level perspectives. As a result, concrete development priorities could be agreed (i), and areas requiring further negotiation among the stakeholders made transparent (ii). Sustainable Land Management in the High Pamir and Pamir-Alai Mountains A major outcome of the Pamir Strategy Project was to identify the state of renewable land resources as a core problem in the Tajik Pamirs. Namely, land degradation phenomena such as depletion of woody biomass reserves, decline in diversity of flora and wildlife, reduced soil fertility, and increasing water quality problems are becoming major obstacles to sustainable development. To counteract this situation, the project seeks to reduce poverty and improve fragile ecosystems by addressing unsustainable land management practices and improving related policy at the national level and on a transboundary basis in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. This project was started recently with a 2-year preparatory phase. Upon successful completion of this initial phase, the project will run for 8 years, with an estimated budget of USD13 Mio. The programme is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) of the World Bank, and is being implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in collaboration with the United Nations University (UNU). CDE’s role in this project is to lead the survey on land management, prepare a Geographical Information System (GIS) for the Pamir-Alai Mountains, contribute to the elaboration of the full project proposal, and perform general backstopping tasks. NCCR North-South research in the Tajik Pamirs The above programmes are complemented by research on land resource dynamics in the Tajik Pamirs. For this purpose 8 studies by MSc candidates and one study by a PhD candidate were carried out, spatial degradation and impact models developed, and knowledge at different stakeholder levels studied. The overarching purpose of this research was to gain a better understanding of the role of knowledge about Sustainable Land Management and to explore ways of generating knowledge for promoting sustainable mountain development. It is hoped that shedding some light on these questions will contribute to more development-oriented research, which will eventually better serve the needs of development. > For more details, please refer to the NCCR North-South Webpage. back to top

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