Abstract
This paper reviews the main historical stages of the development and implementation of the largest environmental project of the late 20th century—the “General Plan to Combat Desertification of Black Lands and Kizlyar Pastures.” The goal of this project was to implement a scientifically grounded set of measures to stop desertification processes, improve the economic state of pastures, increase their fertility, and protect lands. The implementation of the general plan has led to the performance of agroforestry works in an area of more than 7000 km2, the fixing of more than 4000 km2 of mobile sands, and the restoration of more than 2500 km2 of pastures. According to the forecasts, if all of the measures stipulated by the general plan were observed, the area of the ecological disaster zone would decrease and then completely disappear. A study conducted with Landsat satellite images showed that this forecast has partially come true: the area of open sands that was recorded in the test plot in 2016 (27.3 km2) is only 1% of the open sands area recorded in 1975, which is a consequence of the implementation of the general plan, a number of environmental measures, and favorable climate fluctuations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agrolesomelioratsiya (Agroforestry), Volgograd: Vseross. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Agrolesomelioratsii, 2006.
Bakurova, K.B., Agroforestry mapping and ecological-economic assessment of degraded landscapes (by example of northwestern Cis-Caspian region, Extended Abstract of Cand. Sci. (Agric.) Dissertation, Volgograd, 2007.
Dubinin, M.Yu., Lushchekina, A.A., and Radeloff, V.C., Assessment of the present dynamics of fires in arid ecosystems by use of remote sensing data: the case of Chernye Zemli, Arid Ecosyst., 2010, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 184–192.
Durdusov, S.D., Zulaev, M.S., Kulik, K.N., Petrov, V.I., and Khegai, V.E., Fitomeliorativnaya rekonstruktsiya i adaptivnoe osvoenie chenykh Zemel’ (Phytomeliorative Reconstruction and Adaptive Exploration of Chernye Zemli), Volgograd, 2001.
General’naya skhema po bor’be s opustynivaniem Chenykh zemel’ i Kizlyarskikh pastbishch (General Scheme to Combat Desertification of Chernye Zemli and Kizlyar Pastures), Rostov-on-Don, 1986, book 1.
Gunin, P.D., Zolotokrylin, A.N., Vinogradova, V.V., and Bazha, S.N., Dynamics vegetation cover of southern Mongolia according to NDVI, Arid. Ekosist., 2004, vol. 10, nos. 24–25, pp. 29–34.
Kouzmina, J.V. and Treshkin, S.E., Climate changes in the basin of the Lower Volga and their influence on the ecosystem, Arid Ecosyst., 2014, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 142–157.
Kulik, K.N. Agrolesomeliorativnoe kartografirovanie i fitoekologicheskaya otsenka aridnykh landshaftov (Agroforest Mapping and Phytoecological Assessment of Arid Landscapes), Volgograd: Vseross. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Agrolesomelioratsii, 2004.
Kulik, K.N. and Petrov, V.I., Ancient foci of deflation on the Chernye Zemli and their possible phytomelioration, Arid. Ekosist., 1999, vol. 5, no. 10, pp. 57–64.
Manaenko, A.S., Lesomeliroatsiya aren zasushlivoi zony (Forest Melioration of Drought Zones), Volgograd: Vseross. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Agrolesomelioratsii, 2014.
Mushaeva, K.B., Assessment of the current state of agropasture landscapes of the semi-desert zone of the Kalmykia Republic using GIS technologies, Vestn. Volgograd. Gos. Univ., Ser. 11: Estestv. Nauki, 2015, no. 1 (11), pp. 100–106.
Neronov, V.V., The history of pasture nature management in Kalmykia steppes, Stepnoi Byull., 1998, no. 2, pp. 58–59.
Rulev, A.S., Kanishchev, S.N., and Shinkarenko, S.S., Analysis of the seasonal NDVI dynamics of natural vegetation in the Trans-Volga region (Volgograd oblast), Sovrem. Probl. Distantsionnogo Zondirovaniya Zemli Kosmosa, 2016, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 113–123.
Vdovenko, A.V., Restoration of disturbed ecosystems of the Chernozem and Kizlyar pastures, Nauchno-Agron. Zh., 2016, no. 1, pp. 25–29.
Vinogradov, B.V., Modern dynamics and ecological forecasting of the natural conditions of Kalmykia, Probl. Osvoeniya Pustyn, 1993, no. 1, pp. 29–37.
Wan, Z., Wang, P., and Li, X., Using MODIS Land surface temperature and Normalized Difference Vegetation index products for monitoring drought in the southern Great Plains, USA, Int. J. Remote Sens., 2004, vol. 25, no. 1. P. 61–72.
Zolotokrylin, A.N. and Titkova, T.B., The trend of desertification of the Northwestern Caspian region according to MODIS data, Sovrem. Probl. Distantsionnogo Zondirovaniya Zemli Kosmosa, 2011, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 217–225.
Zolotokrylin, A.N., Titkova, T.B., Cherenkova, E.A., and Vinogradova, V.V., Dynamics of arid pastures summer moistening and biophysical parameters at the European Russia in 2000–2014, Arid Ecosyst., 2016, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1–7.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © K.N. Kulik, V.I. Petrov, A.S. Rulev, O.Yu. Kosheleva, S.S. Shinkarenko, 2018, published in Aridnye Ekosistemy, 2018, Vol. 24, No. 1(74), pp. 3–10.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kulik, K.N., Petrov, V.I., Rulev, A.S. et al. On the 30th Anniversary of the “General Plan to Combat Desertification of Black Lands and Kizlyar Pastures”. Arid Ecosyst 8, 1–6 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079096118010067
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079096118010067