Kazakhstan ranks third Globally in land restoration efforts

Kazakhstan has ranked third in the world for the amount of land covered by restoration initiatives, according to a United Nations report.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the UN Environment Program, and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity released the first global Nature’s Comeback report. The report shows that Kazakhstan has included 8.13 million hectares in these efforts, which represents about 3% of the country's total territory.

The Agriculture Ministry reported that China leads the world with 127.4 million hectares, while Mongolia ranks second with 12.18 million hectares. To manage its resources, Kazakhstan is using digital maps to monitor 114 million hectares of land and identify areas where soil is declining. These tools helped officials find 2.7 million hectares of degraded agricultural land to prioritize for protection.

The government also passed the Law on Soil Protection on July 8 to create legal rules for assessing and restoring land. The Agriculture Ministry and local authorities are now making regional plans to stop land degradation and keep soil productive for the long term.