Drylands are subject to degradation processes caused by natural and anthropogenic factors. Among the latter, agricultural activities stand out in terms of the scale and duration of their impacts worldwide. These processes are exacerbated in transboundary areas with different socioeconomic and environmental management institutions. We propose the ecological-landscape paradigm of agricultural land management, which aims to achieve sustainable development of transboundary territories as a single socio-ecological system, while respecting environmental standards and landscape resilience to agricultural pressures. This approach was applied to the dry steppe landscapes of the Russian-Kazakh transboundary area. It was found that 75% of the study area is occupied by low-stable landscapes; unstable to agricultural impacts – 17%; relatively stable – only 8% of the territory. The conservation strategy is proposed for landscapes unstable to agricultural impact and unsuitable for involvement in agricultural turnover due to their environmental, water and soil protection functions. The adaptation strategy is developed for landscapes with low stability, which should be used as farmland with a high proportion of perennial grasses and natural fodder by carrying out the necessary agricultural and recreational works. The development strategy with a grain-fallow soil protection system is most suitable for relatively stable landscapes. These strategies make it possible to find a compromise between the intensive use of dryland farmland and its conservation, and to apply uniform management tools in cross-border areas.
Krasnoyarova et al. (Thu,) studied this question.