This atlas brings together a wealth of information related to living and nonliving natural resources in the five countries of Central Asia---Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. It contains an array of maps based on geographic information systems and remote sensing images, numerous photographs, tabulations of important data, and extensive descriptive text that together illustrate and describe the region's bountiful natural resources, its diversity of peoples, and their progress toward sustainable development. Highlights include geographic and climatic features; environmental, economic, and social profiles; energy, minerals, and water resources; ecoregions and ecosystems; major fauna and flora; agriculture and fisheries; peoples and cultural traditions; and economic and social statistics.

This book provides a profound geographical description and analysis of Central Asia. The authors take a synthetic approach in a period of critical transformation in the post-soviet time. The monograph analyzes comprehensively the physical and human geography as well as human-nature interactions of Central Asia with focus on Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Natural processes are described at a systemic scale, focusing on ecological impacts and consequences and contemporary human adaptations and organization. It also discusses in which ways the human organizations try to apply solutions for their needs such as security, territorial management and resources renewability, material and functional needs, identity elaborations, culture and communication. The Geography of Central Asia appeals to scientists and students of regional geography and interested academics from other areas such as social, political, economic and environmental studies within the context of Central Asia. The book is also a very useful resource for field trips into this area.

The region of Central Asia comprises extremely diverse ecosystems: high mountains, big rivers, vast agricultural areas, deserts and semi-deserts. Natural resources, especially water and arable land, are essential means of livelihood in Central Asia where the majority of the population lives in rural areas. The increasing scarcities of those resources together with conflicts over their use endanger the welfare of the people in the region. The book reflects a multidisciplinary and cross-national approach in investigating the broad topic of land use and its interrelation with physical processes of the biogeosphere, economic development, and human welfare. The book includes contributions on: the impact of climate change on glacier retreat; dust deposition in the course of the desertification of the former Aral Sea; remote sensing analysis of earthquakes and landslides; hydrological modeling of irrigation and drainage systems; the role of remittances and income growth for the agricultural sector; food security of farm households; the impact of direct agricultural policies and changing macroeconomic conditions on agricultural incentives; the Kyoto Protocol and its legal implications for land-use; pasture and grazing management strategies.

This atlas graphically illuminates the region's history tracing back to the 8th-7th century B.C. From the spread of Islam to the invasion of the Mongols, the area has been at the crossroads of some of the world's most important developments, all succinctly explained in this book.

Papers presented at an international seminar on regional cooperation for peace and development in Central Asia (November 26-28, 1997), organized by FRIENDS in collaboration with the Government of Turkmenistan, UNESCO and Hanns-Seidel Foundation.

This book includes 11 articles that scrutinize the economic, environmental, social and governance challenges of Central Asia; the region that is not limited to Aral Sea basin but encompasses Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and northern Afghanistan. The book consists of two parts. The first one, consisting of three chapters, provides an introduction to the problematique and institutions. The second part of the book includes eight research articles.

Providing concisely written entries on the most important current issues in Central Asia and Eurasia, this atlas offers relevant background information on the region’s place in the contemporary political and economic world. Features include: Profiles of the constituent countries of Central Asia, namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan Profiles of Mongolia, western China, Tibet, and the three Caucasus states of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia Timely and significant original maps and data for each entry A comprehensive glossary, places index and subject index of major concepts, terms and regional issues Bibliography and useful websites section Designed for use in teaching undergraduate and graduate classes and seminars in geography, history, economics, anthropology, international relations, political science and the environment as well as regional courses on the Former Soviet Union, Central Asia, and Eurasia, this atlas is also a comprehensive reference source for libraries and scholars interested in these fields.

This volume of 18 chapters is the work of more than 30 authors, many of whom are natives of the Central Asian region or are researchers who have dedicated a large part of their working lives to studying the development dynamics in this vast and fascinating region. The work focuses on the 20 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990. But it also traces the attitudes of land users to the land dating from before the late 19th century, when Russian conquest and colonization occurred, and through the upheavals caused by Soviet-style collectivization and sedentarization. The book is rich with new data presented in 68 easy to understand charts/graphs (many in color) and 50 Tables. Information was generated for this book by experts working in-country. It presents for the first time in English a digest of plethora of previously inaccessible Russian reports and scientific literature that will be invaluable for development agencies, including UN, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Bank as well as to students of this vast and fascinating region who seek up to date and authoritive information.

This collection of descriptions and analyses from scholars from Central Asia, Xinjiang, Kashmir, and Siberia gives first a general overview about the geopolitics, economics, and politics of the Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgizstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) plus a details description of their foreign policy towards their neighborhood, the region, and the further abroad (Russia, India, China). This is complemented by studies on the relations between Central Asia on the one side and China, India, and Russia on the other hand. Secondly, the history, problems, and pers-pectives of the Central Asian regionalization and trans-regional (SCO, OSCE) process is discussed and evaluated. Third, problems such as Islamism in Central Asia are studied. The book is not only a coherent handbook on Central Asia but presents the views of the academic generation of the newly independent Central Asian countries. It gives a comprehensive overview about foreign policies and Central Asian relations with the big neighbors China, Russia, and India as well as a differentiated discussion on the regionalization process.