Topic: Central Asia mountains ecosystem services

Ministry of higher and secondary special education of the Republic of Uzbekistan

Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agriculture Mechanization Engineers

EcoGIS CENTER

Topic: Central Asia mountains ecosystem services

Approved by: Xasanov S

Prepared by: Xolmatov M

TASHKENT-2020

Content

Mountain ecosystem goods and services 2

Key characteristics of the Central Asian mountains 4

The effects of climate change 5

Natural disasters 6

Conclusion 7

References 8

Mountain ecosystem goods and services

The mountains of Central Asia provide an astonishing array of essential ecosystem goods and services that serve not only the mountain inhabitants but also those in the lowlands and people around the globe. These goods and services, which fall into three broad categories – provisioning, regulating and cultural – include forest products and land for food production; watershed protection; habitat for flora and fauna of local and global significance; the regulation of natural hazards and climate;

lmost 90 per cent of the population of Central Asia relies on water that falls in the mountains where it is stored in glaciers and snow before making its way downstream to population centres. Densely populated valleys and oases of the vast dry lands of Central Asia depend on mountain water transported by numerous rivers and streams, especially the Syr Darya River, which arises in the Tien Shan Mountains, and the Amu Darya, which arises in the Pamirs. Each flows more than 2 000 kilo metres to empty into the Aral Sea. Other major regional rivers originating in the mountains are the Ili, Chu, Talas and Saryjaz. Overall, Tajikistan holds 40 per cent, and Kyrgyzstan 30 per cent, of the water resources serving the five Central Asia countries. These water resources also serve China and Russia. Uzbekistan, with the largest population in the region, is the biggest water consumer, in large part because of an economy based on irrigated agriculture. With 90 per cent of their water resources coming from mountains located outside their country borders, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, are highly vulnerable to water shortages, especially the downstream communities.

Pic 1

Global warming is slowly decimating mountain glaciers, affecting snow reserves and at the same time increasing the water requirements of basic agricultural crops. A relatively large Zeravshan glacier in Tajikistan a source of water for half a million hectares of irrigated lands and densely populated ancient oases of Samarkand and Bukhara in Uzbekistan – retreated by 2.5 kilometres between 1927 and 2010. A projected reduction in the Amu Darya river runoff the expected effect of climatechange in the Pamirs over the next 20 to 40 years can only make matters worse.