Environmental Assessment and Environmental management Plan Report

^a Monitoring for these data was carried out on irrigated fields (furrows, etc.) and excludes house plots. The area monitored was about 690,000ha out of a total of 720,000ha. Source: MWRLR, ASAP.2001
(b) Wind/water erosion. Large areas of agricultural lands in the region are affected y soil erosion. Because of strong winds Khatlon region belongs to areas with a high degree of wind erosion (especially in Shahrituz , Kumsangir rayons) and, water erosion(Yavan rayon)²³. About 30 thousand ha of arable lands in Khatlon region were destroyed (washed up) because of erosion, silting of river bed and as consequences the destructions of dams. More than 8 thousand affected ha of Yavan valley provides an almost textbook example of the power of erosion caused by poor design of the system and non-observance of irrigation rules. Inappropriate irrigation ditches, poor techniques of water distribution, application of too much water resulting in filtration losses and land slips are among the observed outcomes.
(c) Water logging. Poor water management and an under performing drainage infrastructure causes water logging problems. The region also faces problems caused by over watering and its impact on soil fertility. Currently, collection and drainage networks cover less than half of the total irrigated land. As a result, about 15 percent of irrigated lands are over-saturated every year. It concentrates salts, drawn up from lower in the soil profile, in the factories' rooting zone.
65. Water resources. There are several river basins in the Khatlon region, the main of them are Vakhsh river basin and Pyandj river basin. Vakhsh river water-collecting area is 39100 km². Its length is 690 km, and water discharge can be more then 3600 m³/sec. The average annual runoff is 22,1 км³. Water resources quality in Khatlon region is regularly and considerably affected by floods, mudslides and slope denudation processes (soil erosion). The total volume of water resources used in Khatlon oblast was 5513,7 mln.m³/year (2005), the 4035,1 mln. m³/year - for agriculture purposes. Actually there were used 4052,8 mln.m³/year on Vakhsh river basin, and 1460,9 mln.m3/year – on Pyandj river basin.

66. Biodiversity. In the region there are several protected areas. In particular one nature reserve is placed along the Vakhsh river delta (Tigrovaya Balka), in Southern Tajikistan and characterized by tugai forests along the Vakhsh and Panj rivers. The second nature reserve (Dashtijum) also placed along the Panj river, has populations of markhor, snow leopard and Siberian ibex, fauna representatives included in the country’s Red Book. The nature reserve “Karatau” located in Farkhor rayon was founded in 1972 and occupies 14.4 thousand hectares. Its territory includes west slope and watershed of Karatau mountain ridge from 700 to 1500 m altitude above sea level. The main task of the reserve is to preserve ecosystems of ephemeral factories and natural almond and pistachio sparse growth of trees. Xerophyte’s sparse growth of trees of Karatau is a unique one in the republic because many of trees here are older than 600 years and the height of the trees reaches 7 meters, at that the trees still bear fruit well. The pistachio forests of Karatau are typical places for rare kinds of wild animals such as striped hyena, gazelles and urial.

67. Forests. Since 1950s in the country more than 300,000 ha of native tugai (Populus pruinosa, Elaeagnus angustifolia) forests have been converted to farming or destroyed mostly in the lower elevations of Kulyab zone, Vakhsh valley and along the banks of Syr Darya in Sugd leaving only islands of such vegetation in places such as Tigrovaya Balka zapovednik (protected area). Pressures on forests come from cattle grazing, farming, and uncontrolled logging to meet domestic wood consumption. Forest resources comprise such species as Salix turanica, Hippophae rhamnoides, Populus tadshinistaca and some species of Betula. There are many animal species of tugai complex are represented in Khatlon region as gazelle, Servus bucharica, Phasianus colchicus, Ammoperadix griseogularis, Milvus korshun, Coturnix coturnix, Alectornis graeca, several species of jerboa, and others.
68. Environmental pollution. Outside of the major environmental problems described above, the region suffers also from inadequate industrial and domestic solid waste collection and dumping infrastructure, and contaminated drinking water²⁴. The results of recent water quality analysis show an alarming level of chemical and bacteriological contaminants (47.3 percent and 54.7 percent, respectively) in samples of water used for drinking and irrigation²⁵. The heavy dependence on agriculture in Khatlon, and the subsequent exposure to chemicals involved in farming, has a negative impact on health in the region. In addition, the incidence of disease is significantly higher in areas of irrigated agriculture where water consumption for the local population comes primarily from ditches in the village.
69. Fertilizers and pesticide usage; pollution of drainage waters. Before independence (1991), use of pesticides was rather intensive, with a mean annual application of 24.1 kg per ha, mostly on cotton fields. The highest levels of pesticide application have been recorded in Vakhsh Valley where it reached 48 kg per ha. But due to the collapse of the Soviet agriculture system and the civil war there was drastic reduction in the use of pesticides in Khatlon oblast as in the entire country. Furthermore, there is a shortage of institutional capacity to collect and maintain statistics of pesticide use. The total mineralization on drainage waters was higher than MAC.
70. Population and socio-economic conditions. Khatlon region has a population of 2.3 million people, or about one third of the national figure. The vast majority of its residents live in rural areas, about 1.9 million people versus about 400 thousand urban settlers. Even if one excludes the capital city Dushanbe, population density is the highest in the country, 92.5 people/sq km. The region also has the largest portion of irrigated lands in the country, approximately 45 percent, of which 34 percent are located in the area surrounding the regional administrative capital of Kurgan Tube, and 11 percent are in the Kulyab zone. The region’s industry is presented by 165 enterprises. The district’s production ratio is 25.8% of the total industrial production of the republic. The Khatlon region hosts a few large industrial complexes: the Vakhsh Azot Fertilizer factory, the Yavan chemical enterprise, as well as a complex for chemical herbicide entombment.
B Baseline analysis for Rasht valley
71. Project geografic location. The Rasht valley is located in central part of Tajikistan and is an administrative and geographic unit of Tajikistan comprising the five districts of Jirgital, Rasht, Tavildara, Tajikabad and Nurabad. The amount of annual precipitation varies from 400 to 800-1200 mm per year. In spite of high altitude, the climate is mild. The annual average temperature is 10^oC. In the summer (July) the average temperature is about 23^oC, and in the winter (January), it is below 4^oC. Sometimes the summer temperature reaches 38^oC, but in the winter it reduces to below 25^oC.
72. Land resources. The total area is about is 17,055 km². 23,000 hectares of lands are irrigated, 308,000 - rain fed. The irrigation is also unique. The canals are short and they are usually laid along the steep slopes. On irrigated lands people are growing potatoes, tobacco plants, cucumbers, tomatoes, lucerne, etc. Along most of the valley slopes and ridges non-irrigated agriculture is possible. Mountain relief and exposure of slopes create different conditions for growing and developing horticulture in the river valleys. Soils are presented mainly by typical mountainous brown soils, high-mountainous meadow-steppe soils, and typical and light serozymes.
73. Land degradation. As in case with Khatlon region lands due to deforestation, improper irrigation and excessive use of agricultural lands, construction of roads without engineering expertise the region’s land resources are affected by several environmental problems – deforestation, desertification, erosion, mudslides, emergency situations and etc.²⁶ The desertification process has affected the entire inhabitable high-mountain area depriving people of gas, coal, kerosene, and electricity, which have led to further destruction of forests in mountainous areas. Lack of flour in some settlements has led to planting of cereal crops on sloping lands. As a result, fertile soil has been eroded, resulting in pollution of reservoirs and increased mud and rock flow.
74 Water resources. There are several river basin in Rasht valley – Surkhob, Obihingou, Kamarou. The main of them is Surkhob basin. Table 4 below shows the characteristics of the Sourkhob’s tributary rivers. Tributary river valleys of the Sourkhob are closed from east and west by huge mountain ridges, but the valleys are open from the south and thus receive warm wet winds.
Table 4. Main Characteristics of Surkhob River Basin in Rasht valley

Characteristics	Rivers
	Kizilsou	Mou-kou	Kok-sou	Yar-khich		Yasman		Sorbog	Sangikor
Source	Glacial-snow nutrition
Length (km)	254	88	11	48		30		81	42
Basin Area (km^2)	8380	7070	1290	1170		208		1780	291
Altitude Above Sea Level (m): Source End	3800 1835	2714 1835	1823 1705	3309 1570		3400 1568		3580 1246	3400 1242
Average Slope (%)	7.7	10	9.6	36.2		61		28.8	51.4
Soil Erosion Degree	Average and strong water erosion	Average and strong water erosion	Ave-rage and strong water ero-sion	Ave-rage and strong water erosion		Average and strong water erosion		Average and strong water erosion	Average and strong water erosion
Annual Solid Runoff (ton/km^2)	380	2200	600-800	600-800		600-800		600-800	600-800
Suspended Substances (gram/liter)	2.0-4.0	2.0-4.0	2.0-4.0	2.0-4.0		2.0-4.0		2.0-4.0	2.0-4.0
Type of Soils	Typical brown mountain soils, typical sierozyom, stone soils							Stone and less stone soils	Stone and less stone soils
Irrigation	Small plots irrigation
Vegetation	Latin names of plants – Populus pruinosa, Elaeagnus angustifa, Tamarix laxa, Tamarix hispida, Phragmites communis , Salix turanica, S.iranica, Populus tadshikistanica, Betula procurva, Betula tadshikistanica, Juniperus turkestanica, Juniperus.seravshanica, Juniperus semigloboca, Festuca sulcata, Elytrigia trichopora, Prangos pabularia, Amygdalus bucharica, Pistacia vera, Calophaca grandiflora, Certis griffithii, Rosa kokanica, Acer turkestanicum, Juglans regia, Artemisia dracunculus, Adonis turkestanicus, Artemimisia lehmanniana, Artemisia korshinsky, Artemisia sogdiana, Artemisia cina, Acantholimon pamiticum, Stipa turkestanica, Calamagrostis pseudophragmites, Prangos pabularia, Ferula jaeschkeana, Polygonum coriarium, Ligularia thomsonii, Cousinia stephanofora, Cousinia franchetii, Cousinia pannosa
Agricultural Crops	Cereal Crops, Walnut-Plants, potato
Moisture	Sufficient for cereal crops.
Precipitation, mm	200-400	400-800	200-400		400-800		400-800	400-800	400-800
Air Temperature in July, ^оC	20-28	8-20	20-28		20-28		20-28	20-28	20-28
Air Temperature in January ^оC	8-12	12-16	12-16		12-16		12-16	12-16	12-16
River Capacity (thousand kilowatts)	244	550
Runoff (liter/second km^2)	20-25	20-30	15-35		15-35		15-35	40-50	40-50