Change In Central Asia Research Articles

Unravelling lake water storage change in Central Asia: Rapid decrease in tail-end lakes and increasing risks to water supply

There are extensive and fragile mountain-oasis-desert ecosystems in Central Asia. Lakes are not only the most important water resources in arid Central Asia, but also important resources for maintaining the unique ecosystem of the region. As most lakes in Central Asia lack in situ monitoring data, and satellite altimetry records are relatively short-term, the continuous long-term monitoring of lake water storage change (LWSC) in Central Asia is inadequate. To this end, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission digital elevation model data were used in conjunction with all available Landsat images to construct an empirical model of area–elevation–storage changes and estimate the maximum LWSC (maxLWSC) and minimum LWSC (minLWSC) of 9,619 lakes (watershed area > 10 km2) in Central Asia from 1990 to 2020. Subsequently, the random forest (RF) algorithm was used to quantitatively evaluate the associations among climate change, human activities, and LWSC. It was revealed that maxLWSC and minLWSC decreased by 27.94 and 144.21 Gt, respectively. The results also revealed that LWSC varied by elevation, whereby lakes below 3,500 m shrunk and those above 3,500 m expanded. The RF findings demonstrated that human activities are more important than climate change for LWSC in Central Asia. Up to 96 % of LWSC can be explained by human activities. This study comprehensively evaluates the characteristics of LWSC in Central Asia, providing the latest data to help alleviate the contradiction between water supply and demand in Central Asia and resolve cross-border water resource disputes, so as to realize the protection of fragile regional ecosystems.

Climate Changes in Central Asia as a Prerequisite and Trigger of Plague Microbe (Yersinia pestis) Speciation.

Two physical and climatic factors that were distant and recent prerequisites and a transformation trigger for a clone of the ancestral pseudotuberculous microbe Yersinia pseudotuberculosis O:1b (the causative agent of the Far East scarlet-like fever (FESLF)) into a population of the plague microbe derivative Y. pestis are considered. One remote prerequisite was the aridification of the Central Asian landscapes in the second half of the Cenozoic period and the formation of the Gobi Arid Zone. The arid conditions of Central Asia determined the formation of adaptive species-specific protective behavior in the Tarbagan marmot (Marmota sibirica) when installing the plug of a wintering hole, which later contributed to the massive infection of the animals with FESLF by the aberrant (traumatic, not alimentary) method during hibernation. A recent prerequisite and a real trigger of Y. pestis speciation was the onset of the last maximum (Sartan) ice age in Central Asia at the turn of the Pleistocene and Holocene, 22 000–15 000 years ago. Freezing of the cooling burrows of the Tarbagan marmot caused a behavioral shift in the larval population of the marmot flea Oropsylla silantiewi and the transition to the cold winter–spring months of the year from saprophagy in the nesting litter to hematophagy on the bodies of sleeping animals. Larval scarifications in the oral cavity of sleeping marmots have become the entrance gate for a unique traumatic FESLF infection. The constellation of climatic changes, the heterothermal (and, accordingly, heteroimmune) condition of the family groups of sleeping marmots, and the year-round propagation of marmot fleas in wintering burrows, combined with behavioral shifts in marmots and fleas caused by climatic changes, led to the formation of conditions in the parasitic system M. sibirica–O. silantiewi in which the transformation of the FESLF microbe into the causative agent of the plague occurred according to peripatric speciation. Thus, the climatic changes that happened at different times in the Cenozoic initially led to a shift in behavior of the Tarbagan marmot and, subsequently, to a shift in the behavior of the fleas parasitizing it. Ultimately, the change in the behavior of marmots and fleas caused the transition of the clone(s) of the FESLF causative agent into a new ecological niche and adaptive zone, as well as the transformation into a population(s) of the plague microbe.

Central Asian Jadids’ Efforts to Serve the Nation by Bringing Enlightenment to the Country

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw fundamental changes in Central Asia’s cultural and social life. During that time, Jadidism emerged as a progressive movement throughout the emergence of new bourgeois relations, resulting in a cultural, spiritual, and moral upsurge in Central Asian society. The Jadids – educated middle-class youth – recognized the importance of studying secular sciences to keep up with Western achievements, provide a boost in development, and close the existing gap with European achievements. Today a discussion about the Jadids’ efforts for a secular society and their perspectives on the role and place of Islam in modern society is more important and relevant than ever since the Jadids worked to restore Central Asian religious traditions while introducing new ideas to the country. The paper examines how the Jadids’ ideas might be related to the changes taking place in Uzbekistan today. Uzbekistan is currently attempting to establish a new society within the framework of modern Islam, by the Islamic concept of dynamic thinking that is constantly adapting to the course of events and history.

A record of Holocene climate changes in central Asia derived from diatom-inferred water-level variations in Lake Kalakuli (Eastern Pamirs, western China)

The unique geographical and climatic settings of the eastern Pamirs make this region sensitive to the Westerlies and global climate change. Holocene fluctuations in water-level of Lake Kalakuli, a proglacial lake located to the northwest of the Muztag Ata glacier, were reconstructed based on diatoms from a ∼15 m long sediment core spanning the last ∼9,900 years. To establish how diatom species distribute in relation to water depth in Lake Kalakuli, a dataset of 45 surface sediment samples was retrieved from different water depth. Statistical analyses such as cluster analysis (TWINSPAN) and redundancy analysis (RDA) were used to demonstrate that the water depth gradient is the main environmental gradient driving the distribution of these diatom assemblages. A diatom-water depth transfer function, was then developed using a weighted averaging partial least squares component 2 model (R2 = 0.89, RMSEP = 1.85 m) and applied to the Holocene diatom sequence from Lake Kalakuli. Due to the large residual errors in the model only the general trends in water level are proposed. Effective moisture increased rapidly during the early Holocene, as the water depth reached a high level from the lowest level within about two thousand years. Only small amplitude fluctuations were recorded during the mid- and late Holocene until the last few hundred years when a marked increase occurred. Changes in summer insolation over the northern hemisphere drove the advances and retreats of the Muztag Ata glacier, which in turn controlled the fluctuations of water level in this lake. The diatom-derived paleoclimatic trend from Lake Kalakuli is consistent with the Holocene climate evolution in the Westerlies-dominated area of Central Asia.

Changes in sizes of mesophyll cells underlies the adaptation of Betula platyphylla Sukacz. leaf to increased climate aridity

Climate changes in Central Asia attract increasing attention to studies in successions, ecosystem transformations and plant adaptation. Functional mechanisms of plant adaptation are related to the changes in leaf structure, first of all, the architecture of carbon-assimilating tissues. We studied leaf mesophyll structure of Betula platyphylla Sukacz. from geographical regions in the southern part of East Siberia and Mongolia with different climate aridity. Birch populations represented a latitudinal range from the middle taiga to the forest-steppe. According our results changes in mesophyll structure occurred along the aridity gradient, which manifested in a significant decrease (by 38-40 %) in cell sizes and an increase in surface area and volume ratio of mesophyll. Such rearrangement of mesophyll structure provides a higher rate of intraleaf diffusion of CO2 and the maintenance of high level of photosynthesis under water deficiency. We concluded that changes in the sizes of carbon-assimilating cells which underlies the restructuring of leaf three-dimensional organization provides regulation of gas exchange, and is a key mechanism for the adaptation of the photosynthetic function of Betula platyphylla to increased aridity of the climate.

Future changes in extreme precipitation in central Asia with 1.5–4°C global warming based on Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 simulations

AbstractQuantifying future precipitation changes in central Asia (CA), one of the largest semiarid‐to‐arid regions in the world, is increasingly attracting attention. Extreme precipitation changes in CA have been studied based on global climate models (GCMs) in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP). However, quantitative information regarding projected changes in extreme precipitation in CA under the 1.5–4°C global warming scenario is lacking; the potential advantages of the latest‐generation GCMs (i.e., CMIP6) in characterizing precipitation in CA have not been investigated. Thus, in this study, we evaluated the models' overall performance in reproducing the spatiotemporal pattern of four extreme precipitation indices and further performed an observationally constrained projection of changes in extreme precipitation indices for 1.5–4°C global warming based on a weighted multimodel ensemble. Regarding homologous models, CMIP6 models exhibited limited improvement relative to their earlier versions in CMIP5. We project that extreme precipitation indices in CA will increase approximately linearly as global warming increases, except for the consecutive dry days (CDD) index. The changes in precipitation intensity and accumulation exhibit robust consistency between models, whereas the signal of CDD changes is masked by the noise produced by intermodel uncertainties. The changes in the average annual accumulated and maximum 1‐day precipitation relative to the reference period (1981–2010) in CA are 12.0 and 14.2% at 3°C global warming (similar to late‐century warming projected based on current mitigation policies), respectively. Moreover, we demonstrate the advantage of the weighted scheme over the traditional unweighted scheme for multimodel ensemble projection.

Analysis of Atmospheric CO2 and CO at Akedala Atmospheric Background Observation Station, a Regional Station in Northwestern China.

Air samples were collected by flasks and analyzed via a Picarro G2401 gas analyzer for carbon dioxide (CO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) at the Akedala Atmospheric Background Station in Xinjiang, China, from September 2009 to December 2019, to analyze the changes in the characteristics of atmospheric CO2 and CO and determine the sources. The results show that the annual average CO2 concentration showed an increasing trend (growth rate: 1.90 ppm year−1), ranging from 389.80 to 410.43 ppm, and the annual average CO concentration also showed an increasing trend (growth rate: 1.78 ppb year−1), ranging from 136.30 to 189.82 ppb. The CO2 concentration and growth rate were the highest in winter, followed by autumn, spring, and summer. The CO concentration and growth rate were also the highest in winter due to anthropogenic emissions, ecosystem effects, and diffusion conditions. The main trajectories of CO2 and CO determined by the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model were parallel to the Irtysh River valley and then passed through the Old Wind Pass. Furthermore, the main source regions of CO2 and CO at the Akedala Station were eastern Kazakhstan, southern Russia, western Mongolia, and the Xinjiang Tianshan North Slope Economic Zone of China. This study reflects the characteristics of long-term changes in CO2 and CO concentrations at the Akedala station and provides fundamental data for the studies on environmental changes and climate change in Central Asia.

Towards Sustainable Community Development through Renewable Energies in Kyrgyzstan: A Detailed Assessment and Outlook

In rural Kyrgyzstan, the energy need is usually derived from multiple natural energy resources such as firewood, charcoal, agricultural residues, animal dung, and wood branches, which are considered common and predominant practices. Because of the non-sustainable resources and heavy reliance on the environment, Kyrgyzstan is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change in Central Asia. On the contrary, the great renewable energy potential in Kyrgyzstan is untapped, which could be the most promising solution to ensuring sustainable energy supply in the country. However, because of the lack of scientific knowledge, current energy policies, and the lack of infrastructure, renewable resources are mainly untapped. To exploit the country’s renewable energy potential, there is a need for a systematic diagnosis to develop a strategy to explore renewables in Kyrgyzstan, which is currently missing in the existing literature. In that regard, the presented study aims to assess the current status of renewable energy sources by considering the local energy context from a potential point of view. Further to this, it provides a comparative overview through a matrix of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Such novel analysis would be the fundamental base for formulating policy advice and a national plan to enhance the utilization of renewable energy in Kyrgyzstan. The presented analysis was carried out based on the extensive literature review, the country’s national plan, and the existing energy policies of Kyrgyzstan. The article found out that there is huge potential available for the renewable energy market. As compared to other renewable energy sources, solar energy has great potential and can be considered one of the pioneer sustainable sources for integration into the country’s power generation framework.

A void in Central Asia research: climate change

ABSTRACT This article assesses the extent to which the academic community engaged with climate change in Central Asia between 1991 and 2021. The article finds that climate change has been neglected in the field of Central Asia area studies. Out of a total 13,488 journal articles in eight key journals for Central Asia research, only 33 articles (0.24%) were on climate change or a related topic. Climate change has been similarly neglected at the events of 17 Central Asia area studies associations. Out of 1305 conference panels, none was focused on climate change. Out of 10,249 individual presentations, only two (0.02%) were focused on climate change. The very same scholars who have been most active in the securitization of Central Asia have ignored the severe security threats that climate change poses to the region. The article contributes to the field of Central Asian studies by drawing attention to severe knowledge gaps that hinder the Central Asian countries from adapting to climate change. It concludes with six recommendations.

Is There Spatial and Temporal Variability in the Response of Plant Canopy and Trunk Growth to Climate Change in a Typical River Basin of Arid Areas

The response of plants to climate change has become a topical issue. However, there is no consensus on the synergistic processes of the canopy and trunk growth within different vegetation types, or on the consistency of the response of the canopy and trunk to climate change. This paper is based on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), tree-ring width index (TRW) and climate data from the Irtysh River basin, a sensitive area for climate change in Central Asia. Spatial statistical methods and correlation analysis were used to analyze the spatial and temporal trends of plants and climate, and to reveal the differences in the canopy and trunk response mechanisms to climate within different vegetation types. The results show a warming and humidifying trend between 1982 and 2015 in the study area, and NDVI and TRW increases in different vegetation type zones. On an interannual scale, temperature is the main driver of the canopy growth in alpine areas and precipitation is the main limiting factor for the canopy growth in lower altitude valley and desert areas. The degree of response of the trunk to climatic factors decreases with increasing altitude, and TRW is significantly correlated with mean annual temperature, precipitation and SPEI in desert areas. On a monthly scale, the earlier and longer growing season due to the accumulation of temperature and precipitation in the early spring and late autumn periods contributes to two highly significant trends of increase in the canopy from March to May and August to October. Climatic conditions during the growing season are the main limiting factor for the growth of the trunk, but there is considerable variation in the driving of the trunk in different vegetation type zones. The canopy growth is mainly influenced by climatic factors in the current month, while there is a 1–2-month lag effect in the response of the trunk to climatic factors. In addition, the synergy between the canopy and the trunk is gradually weakened with increasing altitude (correlation coefficient is 0.371 in alpine areas, 0.413 in valley areas and 0.583 in desert areas). These findings help to enrich the understanding of the response mechanisms to climate change in different vegetation type zones and provide a scientific basis for the development of climate change response measures in Central Asia.

Holocene fire records and their drivers in the westerlies-dominated Central Asia

Fire plays an important role in carbon emissions and climate changes in the Earth system and global/regional fires in the past have been detected. However, palaeofire history and their potential drivers are poorly understood in Central Asia. We in this study synthesized existing sedimentary charcoal records to reconstruct Holocene fire history in Central Asia and then assessed the relative importance of two potential controls (climatic and anthropogenic factors) on its trends. The results are: (1) Fire activity had insignificantly increased since ~7.9 cal. yr BP in Central Asia, although there was an obvious difference when fire history at different elevations is considered; (2) Periods of high fire activity occurred in the early-middle Holocene following by a decreasing trend in the late Holocene at high elevation, which might be attributed to a cooling temperature and the cooling-caused low biomass burning in the Holocene interval; (3) Episodes of high fire activity were common in the late Holocene and were primarily driven by the wetting-induced increased biomass burning, reinforced by the intensified human activities in middle-low elevation. Our findings could not only provide new unique insight about the long-time-scale fire-human-climate-vegetation interactions and also provide reasonable guidance for fire management given current climate change in Central Asia.

Impacts of changes in land cover and topography on a heavy precipitation event in Central Asia

Future variations in precipitation due to the effects of topography and possible trends in land-use change in Central Asia are evaluated by utilizing numerical experiments based on a case study. Considering possible changes in land cover, oasification leads to a 0.23 mm increase in regional-averaged precipitation, accounting for 3.0% of the total. Meanwhile, desertification and urbanization decrease precipitation, by about −5.3% and −4.7% proportionally, mainly through changing the near-surface humidity and thermal environment and related upward transport of heat fluxes in the boundary layer. Relatively, varied terrain height produces a more prominent impact on precipitation (up to −13.1% and −24.9% in the 1/2 and 1/4 original terrain height runs), mainly via varying the wind field and microphysical processes (low-level jet and cloud). Furthermore, the heavier rainfall happens over the mountains, while the more sensitive response of precipitation to varied topography and land use occurs over the plains. As the main microphysical conversion pathways of the rainwater budget, the greater peaks of PSMLT (snow melting into raindrops) and PGMLT (graupel melting into raindrops) present over the mountains but not the plains are responsible for the difference in precipitation between the mountains and plains. However, the more sensitive response of plain rainfall might be related to the rapid transit of rainfall over the plains but prolonged mountainous precipitation lasting together with relatively slowly varying microphysical conversion processes when airflows climb the mountains. The findings of this study have important strategic significance for improving the environment of ecosystems and strengthening the capacity for disaster prevention.摘要本研究利用数值试验方法, 定量评估了地形效应和土地利用类型的变化对中亚降水事件的影响. 考虑到可能的地表覆盖变化趋势, 绿洲化, 沙漠化和城市化可改变近地表湿热环境和边界层向上热通量, 导致区域平均降水增加3.0%, 减少5.3%和4.7%; 相对而言, 地形效应对降水的影响更为显著 (1/2和1/4原始地形高度时, 降水减少13.1%和24.9%), 主要影响途径是风场和微物理过程 (低空急流和云) 的变化. 以上研究结果对改善生态环境, 加强防灾能力具有重要战略意义.

The Influence of the Tibetan Plateau Monsoon on Summer Precipitation in Central Asia

As a unique climate phenomenon induced by the Tibetan Plateau (TP) heat flux, the TP monsoon is closely connected with the global climate, especially pertaining to the TP. However, the current research focuses more on the influence of the TP monsoon on the TP and eastern China, but not including Central Asia. This paper analyzed the relationship between the TP monsoon index and Central Asia summer precipitation by JRA55 reanalysis data and Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) monthly precipitation. The results showed a significant positive relationship between the TP monsoon index and summer precipitation in Central Asia. When the TP monsoon was strong, there was cold advection in the upper troposphere over Central Asia, and the resulting thermal wind caused a cyclonic circulation anomaly in the mid-upper troposphere over Central Asia. This in turn led to a cyclonic circulation anomaly to water vapor transport in the lower troposphere. The abnormal upward movement also caused more precipitation in this area, which explains the positive correlation between the TP monsoon and the precipitation in Central Asia. Based on this physical mechanism, the temperature of the mid-upper troposphere over Central Asia was closely related to the TP monsoon, and it was a key factor that affected summer precipitation changes in Central Asia.

Contribution of Climate Change and Grazing on Carbon Dynamics in Central Asian Pasturelands

Reducing the uncertainties in carbon balance assessment is essential for better pastureland management in arid areas. Climate forcing data are some of the major uncertainty sources. In this study, a modified Biome-BGC grazing model was driven by an ensemble of reanalysis data of the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis data (CFSR), the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Interim Reanalysis (ERA-Interim), and the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA), to study the effect of climate change and grazing on the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of the pasturelands in Central Asia. Afterwards, we evaluated the performance of corresponding climate datasets over four major pastureland types, and quantified the modeling uncertainty induced by climate forcing data. Our results suggest that (1) a significant positive trend in temperature and a negative trend in precipitation were obtained from the three climate datasets. The average precipitation is apparently higher in the CFSR and MERRA data, showing the highest temperature value among the data sets; (2) pasturelands in Central Asia released 2.10 ± 1.60 Pg C in the past 36 years. The highest values were obtained with the CFSR (−1.53 Pg C) and the lowest with the MERRA (−2.35 Pg C) data set; (3) without grazing effects, pasturelands in Central Asia assimilated 0.13 ± 0.06 Pg C from 1981–2014. Grazing activities dominated carbon release (100%), whereas climate changes dominated carbon assimilation (offset 6.22% of all the carbon release). This study offered possible implications to the policy makers and local herdsmen of sustainable management of pastureland and the adaptation of climate change in Central Asia.

Climate change in Central Asia as a prerequisite and trigger for the speciation of the plague microbe <i>Yersinia pestis</i>

Climate change in Central Asia as a prerequisite and trigger for the speciation of the plague microbe <i>Yersinia pestis</i>

Response of vegetation to climate change in Central Asia with remote sensing and meteorological data

Response of vegetation to climate change in Central Asia with remote sensing and meteorological data

The variation of net primary productivity and underlying mechanisms vary under different drought stress in Central Asia from 1990 to 2020

The variation in net primary productivity (NPP) and its controlling factors are crucial for understanding the mechanisms that maintain terrestrial ecosystem under ongoing climate and land cover change. However, such knowledge is still deficient in Central Asia where vegetation may be subjected to different drought stress. To achieve this goal, our study quantitatively explored the NPP variations and the mechanisms under different drought stress in Central Asia from 1990 to 2020 using Google Earth Engine with the Landsat datasets and environmental data. And a new method was introduced using NPP model to distinguish climate NPP (CNPP), and land cover NPP (LCNPP), affected by climate change, and land cover change, respectively. The results showed that vegetation productivity exhibited an increasing trend from 1990 to 2020, with the value of 473.61 Tg C and 522 Tg C in 1990 and 2020, respectively. The NPP in semi-arid, and dry sub-humid zones respectively increased by 12.94% and 33.78%, while NPP change in arid zones was not significant. The CNPP and LCNPP in Central Asia were -2.84×103 t C and 102.4×103 t C, respectively. In particular, land cover change significantly accumulated terrestrial productivity in the semi-arid zones, with the value of 66.44×103 t C. Climate conditions in arid and dry sub-humid zones respectively contributed 1.85×103 t C and 0.7×103 t C, but led to a decrease of 5.39×103 t C in dry sub-humid zones. NPP change in Central Asia was more sensitive to precipitation (R=0.72) than to temperature (R=-0.06) and solar radiation (R=-0.44). Additionally, the major limiting conditions in arid, and semi-arid zones both were precipitation, while the temperature was the key factor for vegetation growth in dry sub-humid ecosystems. In general, the impact of land cover change on vegetation productivity was higher than that of climate variations in Central Asia between 1990 and 2020.

Late Quaternary hydroclimate change inferred from lake sedimentary record in arid central Asia

Arid central Asia is a key region in the study of global climate change; however, the characteristics and mechanisms of regional hydroclimate changes during the late Quaternary remain poorly known. Here we present a new hydroclimate record from Lake Ebinur in arid northwestern China based on a comprehensive multiproxy analysis. The results show that Lake Ebinur formed at ~33.5 ka under relatively warm and humid conditions that continued to 26.7 ka. The following Last Glacial Maximum was cold and dry from 26.7 to 18.5 ka, most notably during the interval between 21.3 and 18.5 ka, suggesting a two‐step hydroclimate change. The moisture conditions started to improve at 15 ka and reached their highest level during the Middle Holocene (8.7–4.4 ka). A comparison of our record with other records in the Northern Hemisphere indicated that the moisture changes in central Asia followed similar variability trends to those of the east Asia monsoon region during the last glacial period, suggesting common driving forces, such as the boreal solar insolation and its associated Northern Hemisphere ice‐sheet volume. The Holocene moisture optimum in central Asia was delayed by 2000–3000 years relative to that in east Asia, which demonstrated a large influence of the remnant Northern Hemisphere ice‐sheet forcings on the mid‐latitude Asia atmospheric circulation (e.g. mid‐latitude westerlies and Siberian High) in the Early Holocene.

Spatial-temporal characteristics of ecosystem health in Central Asia

Land-use/land-cover change in Central Asia has led to ecological disasters such as draining of the Aral Sea, salinization, desertification that ultimately affect the ecosystem's health. However, only a few studies have systematically assessed the spatial-temporal characteristics of ecosystem health in Central Asia using an integrated ecosystem assessment method. Therefore, this study aims to assess the ecosystem health of Central Asia using multi-source high-resolution data as the indicator and the integrated ecosystem vigor-ecosystem organization-ecosystem elasticity (V-O-E) model. The result showed that most of the areas in Central Asia are in a weak state of ecosystem vigor, ecosystem organization, ecosystem elasticity, and ecosystem health. The fragile state of the ecosystem health was highly due to the decreasing density of forest land, farmland, waterbody, and the increasing density of bare land and artificial land. The area of farmland gradually decreased, from 878639.08 km2 in 2000 to 719128.08 km2 in 2010 and 584251.36 km2 in 2017. The forest of Central Asia has been declining continuously from 161998.69 km2 in 2000 to 115343.96 km2 in 2010 to 81185.10 km2 in 2017 and has become spatially heterogeneous. Interestingly, the area of forest land in Xinjiang increased from 18216.14 km2 in 2000 to 20970.92 km2 in 2010 and 23098.12 km2 in 2017, although there was a decrease in the overall forest land in other countries of Central Asia; this shows that China's afforestation and reforestation policies during the last two decades had notable contributions to the ecosystem vigor and ecosystem elasticity in Xinjiang, which led to the increase in ecosystem health in Xinjiang. Hence, it is urgent to initiate integrated water management measures, limit the population growth and take adequate measures to enhance the techniques of farmland development to enhance the ecosystem health of Central Asia.

Impacts of Climate Change in Central Asia

Impacts of Climate Change in Central Asia