Institute full name:	Moscow State University of Environmental Engineering
Institute acronym:	MSUEE
Institute profile:	Moscow State University of Environmental Engineering (MSUEE) is the oldest University of its kind in Russia comprising of the 39 departments. The University is temporary home for 4,000 students and about 300 of PhD and MSc students who, together with almost 400 staff form an academic forum. The MSUEE is focused not only on education but also on research and science, combining expertise on land and water resources management and their sustainable using, including aspects of land degradation, soil conservation, soil erosion, land reclamation, climate change, human impact on environment, and other fields in the natural resources management as well as modelling of processes in the environment of soil-atmosphere-plant at different spacio-temporal scaling. The Geo- and Hydroinformation Centre is part of MSUEE is equipped by computing facilities and software for numerical hydraulic/hydrological modelling of open (Mike 11, Mike BASIN, HEC-RAS GIS) and subsurface (SWAP, ZAQUA, MODEFLOW, SUTRA) water flow as well as for Geographical Information Systems (ArcGIS 9.1) and Remote Sensing (ERDAS IMAGINE 7.2) applications for land/soil monitoring. The research activity of the Centre is ranging from basic research to applied. The Centre is co-ordinator and participant of national/international research and academic projects (Tempus, INTAS, NATO, RBRF, INCO) in the field of water and soil resources management.
Website	www.msuee.ru www.hydro-center.by.ru (link expired)
Address	127550, Moscow, Russia Prjanishnikova street 19 Tel. +7 (495) 976-4907 Fax. +7 (495) 976-4907
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Involved personnel

Name	Contact details	Key qualifications	Photo
Prof. Anatoly M. Zeiliguer	127550, Moscow, Russia, Prjanishnikova str. 19, Moscow State University of Environmentla engineering, Phone/Fax number: +7495 9764907 azeiliguer@mail.ru	Coordinating international academic/research projects; soil physicist, parameterization of soil porous media, modeling of water and solute transport, GIS application for soil hydrology
Dr Marina L. Sizemskaya		Physical geographer in the field of soil, expert in monitoring of the dynamic of soil degradation and desertification, designing and executing field experimental work
Dr Nikolay B. Khitrov		Soil scientist, soil surveying and soil conservation specialist with special interest in the interaction between landscape and soil properties, and effects of soil erosion and desertification
Dr Vladimir A. Romanenkov		Soil scientist, with expertise in GIS application for land/soil description at regional scale, and development of decision support systems
Prof. N. Pronko		Prof. Pronko is an irrigation and agriculture scientist and an expert in agroecology. She interested in forecasting of soil fertility changes of irrigated lands with different irrigation and farming systems, creation of geoinformation system of irrigated agricultural landscape monitoring, studying of water and salt regimes irrigated soils. She has 122 publications including 2 monograph
Dr. S. Zatinatsky		Dr Zatanatsky is an irrigation scientist and an expert on water regime of irrigated soils. He has 56 publications. His recent investigations focus on the problems of simulation of root water uptake and water exchange in agro-ecosystems as well as water supply management in the field. He has been SSAU team leader for INTAS, TEMPUS and FP6 projects.
Dr. Mamaj Sapanov	Tel.: +7 495 4176623 E-mail:	Biologist; specialist in forest science, land use and protective afforestation, desertification control.
MSc K. Timochkov	127550, Moscow, Russia, Prjanishnikova str. 19, Moscow State University of Environmental engineering, Phone/Fax number: +7495 9764907 Konstan.tim@gmail.com tkvlad@mail.ru	Environmental resources manager, project manager
MSc. O. Ermolaeva	127550, Moscow, Russia, Prjanishnikova str. 19, Moscow State University of Environmental engineering, Phone/Fax number: +7495 9764907	Environmental resources manager, GIS application for soil surveying and monitoring, model execution of scenario analysis.

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From a scientific point of viewa major land degradation problem in this area is caused mainly by the long time irrigation system used since its construction in the 1960s which provoked a ground water table rise due to over application of water. As a consequences the rising ground water provokes (1) water logging of irrigated and surrounding areas causing a change of soil water regime from semi-arid to semi-humid, (2) a secondary soil salinization due to dissolution of salt crystals held in the ground layers of the vadose zone and raising them to the upper root zone, which creates toxic conditions for plants and augments a soil water osmotic pressure leading to diminishing of interval of available for plants water in soil, (3) decreasing soil organic matter content due to leaching, which leads to soil compaction, damage of soil structure, worsening hydraulic conductivity & water retention capacity and other soil parameters.

From the land users’ point of view a high groundwater level, a non-uniform pattern of soil fertility and extensive weed growth are consequences of former extended irrigation that is still maintained in some areas. Thus, the main degradation type of irrigated fields and surrounding territories is chemical soil deterioration, i.e. salinization: a net increase of the soluble salt content at the plant root zone leading to a productivity decline.

More details ... read the full study site description and an overview of all sites
	Read the full study site description
»Comparative overview of all study sites

• Small size household farming (about 1 ha)
• Stock farmers (about 100 ha)
• People living in the area are about 1500

Degradation problems

• Secondary salinization due to water table
• Poor water management practices
• Irrigation
• Soil structure decline
• Wind erosion
• Water erosion
• Productivity decline

Study site stakeholder workshops

Involvement of stakeholders with DESIRE on study site

• Representation of research state institutes on land reclamation
• Extension service (ministry of agriculture)
• Representative of agricultural association

Feedback from stakeholder workshop

• The added value of DESIRE is the study site can be the information  on alternative options for land management.
• Some (representative from research institutes) feel that no other technologies are needed.
• An initial reaction was: “will there be any financial support?” During the workshop people become more active in the discussions and committed to work together.

Stakeholder groups

• Administration of Saratov Region
• Administration of Marksovsky municipal district
• Department of Hydrogeology and Land Reclamation
• Collective farms
• Small farm holders.
• Holders of personal subsidiary plots.

Sustainability goals

The proposed goals can be used as a starting point for a community to develop their own vision and goals for sustainable agriculture management. The list of sustainable agricultural management goals that were developed by other communities and organizations has been useful for this work package. The table shows the sustainability goals that were identified for both the Dzhanybek and Novy study sites.

Source: expert estimate, study site leader and stakeholder workshop.

More details ...

»Stakeholders & their sustainability goals - overview

To help understand this complex picture it can be helpful to think in terms the dominant socio-economic and environmental forces that are driving the process of land degradation. These place pressures on the land which have particular impacts. Human society may have already made responses to those impacts, or may have knowledge about how they could respond. Decisions about which responses to make may also be governed by a range of international, national or local policy regulations and agreements.

In the Novy study site, the same stakeholder workshop and questionnaires that were used to identify existing and potential response strategies (»Identifying strategies: Stakeholder workshop 1) also discussed and identified these driving forces; pressures; impacts; and the policy and regulation environment. This information was then used to inform the choice of »Field experiments and the scenarios used in »Simulated biophysical impact of remediation strategies and their financial viability.

Select map type

Land use: type Land use: trends Land use: intensity trend Degradation: type Degradation: extent Degradation: degree Degradation: rate Land conservation: groups Land conservation: extent Land conservation: measures Land conservation: effectiveness Land conservation: effectiveness trends Expert recommendations

Comments

Map version: 12Jan12

Introduction
The Novy study site covering the Marksovsky Region of Saratov Oblast is situated at left bank of Volga River, and has a semi-arid climate. A long warm and dry summer with little rainfall every second year makes an extensive rainfall based agriculture practically impossible. Considerable land use changes have taken place over the last 40 years while first large irrigation system been constructed based on sprinkler irrigation use. This has caused regional ground water rising and secondary salinization appearing, as well as of developing of zones suffering of local runoff and water erosion by excessive irrigation. The collapse of the Soviet Union and increased socio-economic crises with rising prices of energy (pumping water from the Volga river), the use of irrigated land at Marksovsky Region diminished more than 5 times from its original size. Sprinkler irrigation was partly replaced by furrow irrigation, which is less expensive (no pumping) but has a low efficiency. as much water is lost because of low infiltration rates. This in fact generates soil erosion in the furrows and sedimentation of agrochemicals in nearby ponds. Drip irrigation has a much better controlled application of water below the surface, which conserves water and prevents erosion.

Desertification indices
The main desertification process is salinization and water erosion because of excessive irrigation. The salinization risk is calculated as low (2.39) which correctly reflects the situation as the irrigation water source is fresh river water. On very poorly drained soil this risk may become moderate (2.68). The erosion risk is calculated as low (2.21) which is logical because excessive irrigation is not a factor in the system and the natural rainfall would not cause erosion.

Erosion and Salinization risk and onvery poorly drained soils

Conclusion
The desertification risk assessment tool correctly identifies the salinization risk but cannot calculate the man-made erosion risk which is logical.

Moderators and authors: Tatiana Smirnova, Nina Pronko

Background

Results and conclusions from sequences / exercises

1. The biomass cycle
2. The water cycle

List of stakeholders and their influence and interest in regard to sustainable land management

Assessment made by local and external stakeholders

List of technologies to be evaluated by WOCAT methodology

Draft outline of an overall strategy for sustainable land management

Recommendations and difficulties encountered

• Strengths. In general the seminar was a success and the objectives were attained. It provided a good basis for evaluation of solutions for SLM. The most suitable overall strategy was developed for the local conditions.
• Weaknesses. The workshop is carried out not in a village / community. Not all the stakeholders were equally interested in the SLM.

More details ... download the full report and poster and see results and general conclusions from other study sites
	WP3.1 Stakeholder Workshop 1: Novyi (report) (388.58 kB)
	WP3.1 Stakeholder Workshop 1: Saratov (results poster) (500.38 kB)
»Identifying strategies: Stakeholder Workshop 1 methodology and summary results from all study sites

Stakeholder Workshop 1 identified a number of existing or potential strategies to combat desertification and land degradation in the Novy study site. In the months following the workshop these strategies (technologies or approaches) were documented and evaluated in a structured and standardised way and their descriptions were entered in the WOCAT Technologies and Approaches databases in order to share the information with other DESIRE sites as well as globally.

For details of all Technologies and Approaches documented in the WOCAT Database (from the DESIRE study sites and from other sites worldwide), see

• WOCAT Technologies Database
• WOCAT Approaches Database

For those relating to this study site, click on the Name of technology or Name of approach to go directly to the descriptions in the database.

WOCAT Technologies Database

WOCAT Approaches Database

Authors: Anatoly ZEILIGUER, Vyacheslav SEMENOV, Olga ERMOLAEVA.

The workshop methodology was designed and coordinated through Research Theme 3: Potential prevention & mitigation strategies and consisted of three main elements:

• A participatory approach to guide and lead the workshop participants through a process of multi-criteria evaluation of different options which finally results in decision-making on strategies to be field-tested.
• The WOCAT database containing locally applied options as well as options from a number of other contexts.
• 'Facilitator', a Multi Objective Decision Support System (MODSS) software to support the single steps of the evaluation and decision-making process.

Target groups were the same as in the 1st workshop: local stakeholders (land users, representatives of local authorities, local NGOs) and external stakeholders (researchers, development professionals, NGOs, GOs).

As a result of the workshop, the following measures were selected for testing in field experiments.

More details ... download the full report and see general results and conclusions from other study sites
	WP3.3 Stakeholder Workshop 2 Novy (report)
»Selecting strategies: Stakeholder Workshop 2 methodology and summary results from all study sites