Restoring the Golden Steppe: Landscape scale steppe restoration and species conservation in Kazakhstan
Restoring the golden steppe. Landscape scale steppe restoration and species conservation in Kazakhstan.
The Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative (Altyn Dala) is a new large-scale initiative from the Government of Kazakhstan that has brought together a partnership of national and international organisations. Altyn Dala will conserve globally important biodiversity, flagship species, and steppe and semi-desert habitats in an integrated and representative network of large protected areas in Central Kazakhstan covering between 3 and 4 million hectares.
The area has been chosen to correspond to the historic distribution of the world's largest saiga population that was catastrophically reduced by over 95% in only 15 years by devastating poaching. Building greater understanding among the remote local communities of this region, and encouraging sustainable development will be essential to the success of this ambitious project.