Kazakh Research Institute of Ecology and Climate (J.S.C. "Zhasyl Damu") Ministry of Environment and Water Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan

United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service -Southwest Watershed Research Center

Michigan State University Center for Global Change and Earth Observations and Department of Geography

"Using MODIS - Landsat information in ecological assessment

of pasturelands in Kazakhstan"

Reporters: Lyubov Lebed, Ph.D., Alexander Cherednichenko, Ph.D. and

Almas Bazarbayev, Ph.D. (RK),

Ja. Qi, Professor and Ph. Heilman, Ph.D. (U.S.)

Tashkent – 2013

• Estimates of global rangeland range up to 70% of the earth's land surface. This resource covers an even more significant portion of agricultural lands in both developed and developing countries that serves as a food reserve for livestock breeding and habitat for wild herbivores and other animal species.

• Consequently, soil and vegetative cover, primary production, as well as food and energy and carbon balance can change significantly under conditions of land reform and adaptive rangeland management based on regular monitoring.

• Rangeland in Kazakhstan covers 189.7 million hectares, i.e. 87% of all agricultural lands in the country with potential forage stocks of about 333 million tons of fodder units. By the early 1990s record amounts of livestock including 40.6 million small ruminants, 10.8 million head of cattle, 1.07 million horses and 0.15 million camels grazed on rangelands. Lead to severe and in places very severe degradation of the vegetative cover observed to 23% of all rangeland.

• Under the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) Project K-1396p implemented in Kazakhstan in Balkhash Lake area during years 2006-2011, joint efforts of the Kazakh and US scientists resulted in progress of the pasture monitoring technologies on the basis of modern remotely sensing and ground information and rangeland growth model "PASTURE".

FIGURE 1

• In Figure 1 show the trend of anthropogenic dynamics of vegetation cover on pastures of the Southern Balkhash area during years 2001-2009 reflects the increase in projected soil cover with vegetation The trend has got outlined due to reduced livestock load practically everywhere on the pastures of Kazakhstan after 1993. The results of assessing anthropogenic dynamics of vegetation used to justify the changes in carbon stock/emission on pasturelands in the network of the national hothouse gas cadastre.

FIGURE 2

• Figure 2 demonstrates seasonal maps reflecting fodder reserves on pastures covering 14.8 million hectares in the Southern Balkhash area that are developed as "Maps of pasture ecology capacity" in the result of using space and ground information for pasture monitoring.

• The ecology capacity maps under development are recommended for justification of optimal yearly livestock loads for pastures to maintenance of restorative functions of natural vegetation and minimization of ecological damage to pasture ecosystems.

FIGURE 3

• The results of the Project implementation confirmed the possibility to assess in practice the carbon stocks in plant biomass on the vast acreage of pasturelands. The preliminary results of estimating carbon on pastures shown on an example of the research polygon covering 1.5 million hectares. It will be to use the specified data on carbon stocks on pasturelands of Kazakhstan in the process of the national inventory of hothouse gases.

FIGURE 4

• Many wells for livestock watering on pastures were destroyed during the period of economic crisis in the middle nineties of the last century and wide spacing of active wells is one of factors that hold back the progress of pastoral animal husbandry in Kazakhstan. Figure 4 is a fragment of a pasture map with the network of wells showing their technical condition in 2001-2010 on pastures of Zhambylskiy administrative district in Almatinskaya oblast. The map is based on the data of automobile survey of wells and visual decoding of space images. The results recommended to the regional program aimed at development of pastoral stock raising .

• The results of the partner cooperation 'Kazakhstan – the USA' are an initial basis for further international collaboration in the sphere of regular monitoring of the regional land and land using and assessment of natural resources with use of up-to-date space and ground information.

Thank you

Рахмет

Спасибо