Redrawing Soil Salinity Innovation-Focused Stakeholder Interaction for Sustainable Land Management in Khorezm Province, Uzbekistan

Akmal Akramkhanov,Muhammad Ul Hassan,Anna-Katharina Hornidge

doi:10.3390/w10020208

Abstract

Addressing soil salinity in irrigated drylands is tightly linked with water and land management decisions thus requiring interdisciplinary engagement. The salinity mapping approaches in Central Asia are undertaken through field sampling and laboratory analysis, which is a time consuming process. As a consequence, salinity maps are not available on time to estimate water requirements to cope with varying levels of soil salinity. Reducing the time lag between assessment and delivery of such maps would enable authorities to determine in advance appropriate water volumes for leaching the salts before and during the growing season. Research initiated in Uzbekistan context explored transdisciplinary and participatory approach to innovation development with local stakeholders. As one of the innovations, an electromagnetic induction meter (EM), a tool for rapid salinity assessment, was chosen and jointly with local salinity mapping related institutions tested, validated, and local capacities for its use developed. This paper redraws this process of innovation-focused stakeholder interaction and transdisciplinary research and discusses it with reference to ongoing debates on participatory and/or transdisciplinary innovation research. The existence of strong path dependencies within implementation oriented organizations could be observed, meaning that the innovation demands many changes to the existing system. Furthermore, the encountered challenges of participatory, transdisciplinary research in the hierarchically shaped setting of post-soviet Uzbekistan are illustrated in selected qualitative field notes and assessed. For improved joint learning and research in a transdisciplinary team, feedback cycles of mutual learning and critical reflection of how to theoretically and practically work in a transdisciplinary manner turned out to be crucial and not to be underestimated.

Highlights

Land degradation due to increased soil salinity in the Aral Sea Basin has become widespread [1,2].Globally, salt-induced land degradation is common in arid and semi-arid regions where agriculture is not viable without irrigation
This paper aims to empirically contribute to respective ongoing debates on transdisciplinarity
For the interactions with the potential stakeholders, a brief description of the device and its use was prepared in Uzbek and Russian languages that included key results of the correlation of the device readings with soil salinity data measured in the laboratory

Summary

Introduction

Land degradation due to increased soil salinity in the Aral Sea Basin has become widespread [1,2].Globally, salt-induced land degradation is common in arid and semi-arid regions where agriculture is not viable without irrigation. In some countries salt-affected area consists of over half of the total irrigated land [2]. Among those countries with a large share of salinized land is Uzbekistan. The share of salinized land differs within the country, provinces located in the lower reaches of the Amudarya river are the most salinized, salinity affected areas exceed 90% of the total irrigated land [1]. FTIhad review made much progress since November 2008, and triggered opinions during the FTI review that this that this innovation should be shelved on account of lack of interest by members. A number of potential number of potential stakeholders were identified, and several keen interest in the innovation

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