Integrating Environment into Agriculture and Forestry : Progress and Prospects in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

The countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia urgently need to accelerate the integration of environmental concerns into their agricultural and forestry sectors. Policies and laws promoting integration have undoubtedly improved, but implementation is lagging, particularly in the east and in agriculture. Integrating Environment into Agriculture and Forestry raises awareness of the pressing need to step up progress on implementation. Failure to integrate environment into agriculture and forestry will have major economic and human health implications, eg. soil salinity in Uzbekistan is estimated to cost 1 billion per year, while soil erosion is estimated to cost Moldova at least 40 million per year. Agriculture and forestry are also highly sensitive to climate change and it is critical for the countries in the sub-region to build awareness and the capacity to proactively integrate climate change adaptation into agriculture and forestry sector policies, programs and investments. These sectors contribute about 15 percent of GDP and support the 35% of the population who live in rural areas of the sub-region. Report recommendations include: the imperative of using economic cost-benefit analysis as a base for decision making, scaling up of successful pilot projects, and development and implementation of climate change risk management adaptation plans.The report includes a companion CD-ROM which contains 21 in-depth reviews of Eastern European and Central Asian countries.