Study of the Ecological and Reclamation Condition of Abandoned Lands and their Development for Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

To provide the population with food, it is very important to re-cultivate "abandoned lands" that have been retired from agricultural use. Conversion of arable land into agricultural abandoned lands in the south of Kazakhstan is, first of all, was primarily associated with salinity. For the purposes of sustainable development, there is a need to develop proposals for re-mastering by studying their current state, reviewing world studies on the reclamation of salt-affected soils. Therefore, this study was devoted to the study of the current environmental and reclamation conditions of the abandoned lands of Otyrar district in the south Kazakhstan, as well as discussion and recommendations on their development. In the course of the research, the historical method is used in the study of the emergence and formation of abandoned lands, the method of geographical analysis during the territorial analysis of the research object, the statistical and comparison methods in showing the complexity and intensity of the problems, the cartographic, geo-informational and field research (reconnaissance) methods in the study of the condition of the abandoned lands in the research object and methods of grouping and analysis were used in the work with scientific data on the topic of research. By deciphering space images with the help of geoinformation technologies, it was revealed that the area of abandoned lands in the research object is 13688.9 ha, including the area of non-saline soils – 83.9 ha, weakly saline soils – 984.4 ha, medium saline soils – 2398.3 ha, highly saline soils – 10222,1 ha. A review of the methods and technologies proposed by scientists for the development and melioration of salt-affected lands was made. Taking into account the ecological and reclamation state of the object of research along with the material and technical capabilities of farms, 2 methods of developing abandoned lands (organic and agro-innovative) in the research object are proposed and the need for their use in case of soil salinization has been scientifically justified.

Agronomic and reclamation strategies to enhance soil fertility, productivity and water accessibility

“…Literature review (Bishimbayeva et al, 2008;Petrick et al, 2017;Laiskhanov et al, 2018;Savelyev, 2018;Mukhamedova and Pomfret, 2019;Kalybekova et al, 2023;Laiskhanov et al, 2023) has shown that to obtain commercially acceptable yields of cotton and alfalfa on grey soils of the Kyzylkum irrigation massif in South Kazakhstan, an integrated approach is required, including crops with high biopotential, agrotechnical practices, reclamation methods and technologies that increase soil productivity and water consumption.…”