Collective Action for Common Rangelands Improvement: A Climate Change Adaptation Strategy in Uzbekistan

Rangeland degradation endangers livelihoods of many rural communities in Uzbekistan. Despite the threat of land deterioration from climate change, there are many reasons that land users do not take action to prevent or reduce land degradation. The described project uses a low-cost approach to mobili...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Society & natural resources 2015-03, Vol.28 (3), p.280-295
Main Authors: Christmann, Stefanie, Aw-Hassan, Aden, Rajabov, Toshpulot, Rabbimov, Abdullo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation
Adaptation to change
Climate change
climate change adaptation
collective rangeland governance
Collectivism
Environmental protection
Governance
Land degradation
Land use
Livestock
pastoral user group
Perceptions
Range management
Rural areas
seed isle
social learning process
Uzbekistan
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Summary:Rangeland degradation endangers livelihoods of many rural communities in Uzbekistan. Despite the threat of land deterioration from climate change, there are many reasons that land users do not take action to prevent or reduce land degradation. The described project uses a low-cost approach to mobilize stakeholders and initiate collective action. Based on a social learning process focusing on development of local climate-change scenarios, villagers from Qiziltepa district identified adaptation options and agreed on a common purpose to restore rangelands through collective governance systems. They formed pastoral user groups, established seed isles to ensure seeding of forage shrubs, and agreed on seasonal grazing. This case study shows the critical importance of scenarios in social learning processes for building awareness concerning climate change adaptation; they led to changes in perceptions and agreement on collective action and governance. We compare the potential of this integrated approach with large-scale seeding.
ISSN:0894-1920
1521-0723
DOI:10.1080/08941920.2014.933927