Dryland Forest Restoration Under a Changing Climate in Central Asia and Mongolia

Diverse environmental gradients in Central Asia and Mongolia, from high mountain forests to semi-desert lowlands salinized by past agriculture and water withdrawals, pose challenges to restoring degraded forests and landscapes. Technical approaches in dryland forestry and agroforestry methods are available to overcome these challenges, but to be fully effective, require policy and institutional changes. Climate variability and natural hazards are features of the region and the future is projected to become more arid with more intense rainfall. Closed forests, open woodlands, and shrublands are features of the dryland landscape, and provide a variety of ecosystem functions and services to be restored. In this work, steps in the restoration process are discussed, including halting degradation, conserving and rehabilitating existing forests, restoring dryland forests and agroforestry where trees are lacking, and adapting to climate change.