KULUNDA: Climate Smart Agriculture. South Siberian Agro-steppe as Pioneering Region for Sustainable Land Use

Switzerland : Springer, 2020.

Under the general editorship: M. Frühauf, G. Guggenberger, T. Meinel, I. Theesfeld, S. Lentz

This book focuses on a representative example and one of the world’s largest steppe conversions, and provides a detailed overview of the results of the BMBF-funded research project KULUNDA. As part of the Siberian virgin land policy, the Kulunda steppe was transformed into agricultural land from 1954 to 1965.

In the course of the project, a multidisciplinary research team conducted a natural, social-economic and agro-scientific cause-and-effect analysis of (agro-)ecosystem destabilisation, as well as various field trials covering tillage and crop rotation options in their socio-economic context.

The ecologically and economically sound findings offer strategies for combining climate smart land utilization, ecosystem restoration and sustainable regional development, and can readily be applied to other virgin land conversion efforts. In addition, the findings on the Eurasian steppes will expand the current conversion literature, which mainly consists of the ‘Dust Bowl’ literature of the North American plains. Given its scope, the book will appeal to scientists, professionals, and students in the environmental, geo- and climate sciences.

Chapters

Framework for Sustainable Regional Development in the Altai Krai

Nikulin A., Lentz S., Vinogradskaya O. et al., , in: KULUNDA: Climate Smart Agriculture. South Siberian Agro-steppe as Pioneering Region for Sustainable Land Use.: Switzerland: Springer, 2020. Ch. 32 P. 435–446.

In this paragraph, the authors focus on analysing all the factors related to the accumulation of human potential and the integration of new knowledge in rural communities on Altai Krai’s Kulunda steppe that are largely responsible for the sustainable socio-economic development of this area. The analysis leads them to conclude that the understanding of the ...

Added: October 30, 2019

Scenarios for Regional Development in the Altai Krai and Long-Term Trends

Nikulin A., Vinogradskaya O., Sergienko A. et al., , in: KULUNDA: Climate Smart Agriculture. South Siberian Agro-steppe as Pioneering Region for Sustainable Land Use.: Switzerland: Springer, 2020. Ch. 35 P. 469–479.

This study detects and describes a specific set of possible alternatives to local rural development, as exemplified in Altai Krai’s Kulunda steppe that can be implemented in a number of so-called analytical scenarios that the authors substantiate. The first scenario, which involves the natural deterioration of the settlement milieu of Kulunda steppe communities, has already ...

Added: October 30, 2019

The Socio-Economic Environment of Innovative Agriculture in Altai Krai

Nikulin A., Vinogradskaya O., Kurakin A. A. et al., , in: KULUNDA: Climate Smart Agriculture. South Siberian Agro-steppe as Pioneering Region for Sustainable Land Use.: Switzerland: Springer, 2020. Ch. 21 P. 299–314.

In order that Kulunda can become a ‘learning region’ for agricultural and rural development, where the link between ecology and efficiency should be the leading idea, various possible mechanisms of knowledge transfers related to new technologies for agricultural production have to be explored. As a background, this chapter summarizes key data on the agricultural and ...

Added: October 30, 2019

Keywords: Climate Change Adaptation and Impact, Land Use Methods in Russia and Kazakhstan