Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- List of Tables -- List of figures -- List of Boxes -- PART 1 The Context -- 1. Central Asia’s Bio-Physical Context: Key Features, Challenges, Responses and Opportunities -- 2. Better land stewardship: an economic and environmental imperative if there is to be sustainable development -- 3. Evolution of land use in nomadic culture in Central Asia with special reference to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan -- PART 2 Land stewardship: from concept to practice -- 4. Land stewardship in practice – An example from the Eastern Pamirs of Tajikistan -- 5. Better land stewardship to avert poverty and land degradation in Afghanistan -- 6. Extensive Livestock Production: Afghanistan’s Kuchi herders, risks to and strategies for their survival -- 7. Constraints and barriers to better land stewardship: analysis of PRAs in Tajikistan -- PART 3 Protecting Rural livelihoods: the key to land stewardship -- 8. Rural livelihoods in Tajikistan: what factors and policies influence the income and well-being of rural families -- 9. Livestock management problems and policies in Tajikistan: implications for land stewardship -- 10. Rangeland-based livestock: a vital sub sector under threat in Tajikistan -- PART 4 Creating the enabling environment -- 11. Pastoral Tenure in Central Asia: theme and variation in the five former Soviet republics -- 12. Governance and the role of institutions in sustainable development -- 13. Land Tenure Reform in Tajikistan: Implications For Land Stewardship and Social Sustainability: A Case study -- PART 5 Land protection -- 14. Engaging with land users; the first steps on a long road -- 15. Fostering community-based stewardship of wildlife in Central Asia: transforming snow leopards from pests into valued assets -- 16. Participatory Management of Desert Rangelands to Improve Food Security and Sustain the Natural Resource Base in Uzbekistan -- PART 6 Where to from here? -- 17. International perspectives on legislative and administrative reforms as an aid to better land stewardship in Central Asia -- 18. Conclusions and a way forward -- Glossary of terms -- List of abbreviations and acronyms -- Index.

This volume of 18 chapters is the work of more than 30 authors, many of whom are natives of the Central Asian region or are researchers who have dedicated a large part of their working lives to studying the dynamics of people, livestock and climate (both physical and socio-political) in this vast and fascinating region.  The work focuses on the 20 years since most of the countries in the region received independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990. But it also traces the attitudes of land users to the land dating from the before late 19th century, when Russian conquest and colonization occurred, and through the upheavals caused by Soviet-style collectivization and sedentarization.  De-collectivization has created its own dilemmas, not the least of which are those related to land tenure and access rights to grazing lands and these are discussed in the context of land stewardship. The Central Asian region is huge and very diverse in agro-ecologies and production systems. Even though the countries are now moving into different directions of overall and policy development, the fundamental issues of sustainable agricultural development remain common for all countries of the region. Better land stewardship is a foundation for this strategic approach. The book is rich with new data presented in 68 easy to understand charts/graphs (many in color) and 50 Tables.  Much of the information is new and was generated for this book by experts working in-country. It presents for the first time in English a digest of a plethora of previously inaccessible Russian reports and scientific literature that will be invaluable for development agencies, including UN, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Bank as well as to students of this vast and fascinating region who seek up to date and authoritive information.