This publication is an effort to describe the principles, history and main parts of the integrated natural resource management worldwide and in Uzbekistan, collect developed innovations, best practices and lessons learned in the field of natural resources management, and present existing issues related to the state and development of natural resources use and management. Specific attention has been made on the natural environments in the region of cold winter deserts of Uzbekistan.

This is a literature review on land use and integrated land use management systems in Uzbekistan. The review aims to synthesize and examine the state of knowledge and the scope for establishing various integrated resource and land use management strategies such as types of agroforestry systems and integrated pastoral management for the sustainable management of forest and agricultural resources in Uzbekistan. The review also aims to explore land use governance in Uzbekistan, delving into the governance structures, formal and informal institutions, their transformations, and path dependencies that shape the post-socialist realities for Uzbekistan. The report reflects upon the land use governance and management practiсes in Uzbekistan against the key principles and suggestions made in the international academic literature on integrated land use systems and governance in semi-arid regions. Drawing on the experiences made in two pilot sites in Uzbekistan (Bukhara and Navoi) with co-management regimes around livestock herding and agricultural use in forest areas, the report seeks to elaborate governance guidelines and recommendations tailored to the specificities and socioeconomic and ecological challenges of the two pilot regions.

Trees in dryland forests and wooded areas provide key ecosystem services such as animal feed, timber, fruits and, regulation of soil and water cycles. Equally, the presence of livestock in dryland woody areas can also play an important role in the local ecosystem; not only are they a source of income for local communities, but they also help vegetation and mobilise stored biomass. When both of these ecosystem elements are wisely combined – livestock and trees – it creates an integrated agricultural system that can boost the local ecosystem, representing a welcome agro-ecological transition in livestock farming. The ‘Grazing with Trees’ report gives a thorough assessment of the positive role that optimized extensive grazing livestock farming can play in the management and restoration of drylands’ forests and lands with trees. It assesses and provides sound evidence on the benefits of applying an integrated landscape approach and utilizing farmers and pastoralists’ knowledge to halt desertification, increase resilience, and enhance food security under the actual changing scenario. The report confirms the importance of agroforestry as a primary pathway for forest restoration in dryland areas as recommended by FAO’s State of Forests 2022, and its recommendations encourage landscape planners and decision makers to consider livestock as allies, carefully restore tree cover and accelerate action to promote healthy ecosystems.

This report summarizes the main findings from the project implementation by applying DSF which integrates land degradation assessments, SLM implementation, SLM mainstreaming and scaling-out and knowledge management for informed decision-making at local, subnational and national levels. The results of the project as well as the Mainstreaming Strategy developed can serve as a guide for decision-makers in developing landscape interventions as well as programmes on natural resources management that will build the resilience of communities.

Tropentag is the largest interdisciplinary conference in Europe, focused on developmentoriented research in the fields of tropical and subtropical agriculture, food security, natural resource management and rural development. Tropentag takes place annually, even though the past two years were particularly challenging, while the conference had to be organised as an online only event. One of the lessons that we learnt from the virtual conferences is that yes, it is possible to organise it that way, but that it is much better to meet and talk in person. We are thus very happy that this year (two years after what was initially planned), we are able to organise the Tropentag 2022 conference at the campus of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Czech Republic, and thrilled that we will again meet all face-to-face, during the 14-16 September venue. However, some of you, due to various reasons, who could not come to Prague, you can still participate at this year Tropentag, as all plenary and oral scientific sessions are streamed via the Whova platform, and we also organise several online poster sessions.