Title: Assessment of land condition in the Kyrgyz Republic with respect to grazing and possible development of a quota system at the local government level

Animal husbandry is the most important source of livelihood for a large proportion of the rural population in Kyrgyzstan. The pastures they depend on are common property, which has encouraged livestock owners to increase their livestock numbers throughout the country and, consequently, has led to land degradation. Kyrgyz pastureland condition has been estimated using different methodologies and the results vary. The aim of this study was to study current global literature on land management in order to understand what is currently acknowledged as good practice, and by using available data on land use, land condition, and vegetation in Kyrgyzstan, to assess the condition of Kyrgyz pastures and suggest appropriate approaches for fighting land degradation. A State and Transition Model (STM) of Jergetal A/O was constructed based on the available data. The model indicates that the upland pasture areas comply with the equilibrium paradigm, where stocking rates play a key role in the transition from one state to another, while the lowland pastures are currently more influenced by the arid climate than by land management. This may be changing, however. Regulation of the stocking rate will be decisive in the fight against the degradation of pastures whereas, in the lower zone of pastures, dynamics comply with the non-equilibrium paradigm and the stocking rate does not play a large role in pasture degradation. In this zone, abiotic factors have a greater impact on the pasture. It seems feasible to apply STM as a tool within individual vegetation zones. A quota system does also seem feasible to control common land use. Such a system could also provide funding for grazing land infrastructure and improvement.