Collective Action and Ecosystem Services: Balancing Livestock Grazing and Biodiversity in the Baiboosun Micro-Reserve

Murat Zhumashev^a & Mestre Irene^b

^a CAMP Alatoo Public Foundation, Ufimskii street 3 Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic;
^b Institut Français d’Etudes sur l’Asie Centrale, Isanova street 24, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic

*Email: irene.mestre@cnrs.fr

https://doi.org/10.29258/CAJSCR/2026-R1.v5-1/86-101.eng

Thematic cluster: Climate, Environmental Science, Landscape/Agriculture

Type of paper: Research paper

xxxxx xx, 2025

© Photo Pavel Bolshakov 2019

Abstract

This study explored the establishment and governance of Baiboosun, the first community-led micro-reserve in Kyrgyzstan integrating biodiversity conservation and sustainable pasture management in mountain ecosystems. Using a qualitative case study approach, the research was co-designed by a geographer and staff of local NGOs drawing on the data collected via interviews, participatory workshops, and 2019-2025 internal reports. The study utilized the conceptual framework on social interdependencies and ecosystem services (ESs) to examine stakeholder dynamics and multi-functional land use. The creation of the micro-reserve was driven by local actors, notably hunters and pasture committees (PCs), and supported by a national-level NGO, as well as state agencies. The reserve’s management plan aims to balance biodiversity conservation with agropastoral use, avoiding exclusionary practices. It also emphasizes grassroots engagement, knowledge generation, and ecosystem integrity. The key enabling factors included stakeholder cognitive framing shifts, cross-scale institutional levels, and legal innovations supporting community governance of protected areas (PAs). Further research, however, is required to investigate the ecological outcomes and connectivity of such reserves at the landscape scale. This research provides empirical insight into multi-functional land management and community-based conservation, thus offering an innovative framework to integrate ES and governance in post-Soviet agro-pastoral landscapes.

Download the Paper

Available in English

For citation: Robert Willard, Muzaffar Ismailov (2026). Group Model Building with Rural Youth for Social Ecological Systems in Karakalpakstan. Central Asian Journal of Sustainability and Climate Research, 5(1), 86-101. https://doi.org/10.29258/CAJSCR/2026-R1.v5-1/86-101.eng

Rerefences

*Ament, J.M., Moore, C.A., Herbst, M. and Cumming, G.S. (2017). Cultural Ecosystem Services in Protected Areas: Understanding Bundles, Trade-Offs, and Synergies. Conservation Letters 10(4), 440-450 (https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12283);

Anarbaev, M. (2022). Pastoralists and Predators in Alai: Political Ecology of Wildlife Management in Kyrgyzstan PhD Thesis (https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/33299);

*Andrade, G.S.M. & Rhodes, J.R. (2012). Protected Areas and Local Communities: An Inevitable Partnership toward Successful Conservation Strategies? Ecology and Society 17(4) (https://www.jstor.org/stable/26269207);

Arias-Arévalo, P., Gómez-Baggethun, E., Martín-López, B. and Pérez-Rincón, M. (2018). Widening the Evaluative Space for Ecosystem Services: A Taxonomy of Plural Values and Valuation Methods. Environmental Values 27(1), 29-53;

*Barnaud, C., Corbera, E., Muradian, R., Salliou, N., Sirami, C., Vialatte, A., Choisis, J.P., Dendoncker, N., Mathevet, R., Moreau, C., Reyes-García, V., Boada, M., Deconchat, M., Cibien, C., Garnier, S., Maneja, R. and Antona, M. (2018). Ecosystem services, social interdependencies, and collective action: A conceptual framework. Ecology and Society 23(1) (https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09848-230115);

Barnaud, C. & Couix, N. (2020). The multifunctionality of mountain farming: Social constructions and local negotiations behind an apparent consensus. Journal of Rural Studies 73, 34-45 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.11.012);

*Bauduin, S., Cumming, S.G., St-Laurent, M.H. and McIntire, E.J.B. (2020). Integrating functional connectivity in designing networks of protected areas under climate change: A caribou case-study. PLoS ONE 15(Sept), 1-19 (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238821);

Borrini-Feyerabend, G., Dudley, N., Jaeger, T., Lassen, B., Neema, P., Phillips, A. and Sandwith, T. (2013). Governance of protected areas: From understanding to action. The International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN (https://portals.iucn.org/…/29138);

*Bradshaw, C.J.A., Ehrlich, P.R., Beattie, A., Ceballos, G., Crist, E., Diamond, J., Dirzo, R., Ehrlich, A.H., Harte, J., Harte, M.E., Pyke, G., Raven, P.H., Ripple, W.J., Saltré, F., Turnbull, C., Wackernagel, M. and Blumstein, D.T. (2021). Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future. Frontiers in Conservation Science 1 (https://doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2020.615419);

CAMP Alatoo (2023). Biodiversity Conservation in the Kyrgyz Republic through introduction of adequate and comprehensive pasture management mechanisms (p. 56) [Project Implementation Report], Sigrid Rausing Trust;

*Castro, A.J., Martín-López, B., López, E., Plieninger, T., Alcaraz-Segura, D., Vaughn, C.C. and Cabello, J. (2015). Do protected areas networks ensure the supply of ecosystem services? Spatial patterns of two nature reserve systems in semi-arid Spain. Applied Geography 60, 1-9 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2015.02.012);

Conrad, C., Schmidt, G. and Kussainova, M. (2023). Current and potential conflicts for ecosystem services caused by agricultural land use in Central Asia, and essential implications for research on sustainable land management in the region. Central Asian Journal of Sustainability and Climate Research 2(1), 1-21 (https://doi.org/10.29258/CAJSCR/2023-R1.v2-1/1-21.eng);

*Costanza, R., d’Arge, R., de Groot, R., Farber, S., Grasso, M., Hannon, B., Limburg, K., Naeem, S., O’Neill, R.V., Paruelo, J., Raskin, R.G., Sutton, P. and van den Belt, M. (1997). The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387(6630), Article 6630 (https://doi.org/10.1038/387253a0);

Drieu, C., Alexander, M. and Chokobaeva, A. (2020). The Central Asian Revolt of 1916: A Collapsing Empire in the Age of War and Revolution. Manchester University Press (https://shs.hal.science/halshs-03101685);

Eagles, P.F. (2009). Governance of recreation and tourism partnerships in parks and protected areas. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 17(2), 231-248 (https://doi.org/10.1080/09669580802495725);

Féaux de la Croix, J. (2011). Moral geographies in Kyrgyzstan: How pastures, dams and holy sites matter in striving for a good life. University of St. Andrews;

Government of the Kyrgyz Republic (2018). The 2018-2040 National Development Strategy of the Kyrgyz Republic [rus. Natsinal’naya strategiya razvitiya Kyrgyzskoj Respubliki na 2018-2040] (p. 150) (https://www.gov.kg/ru/programs/8);

Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, IPBES (2018). Summary for policymakers of the regional assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services for Europe and Central Asia. IPBES Secretariat (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3237468);

Isakov, A. & Thorsson, J. (2015). Assessment of the land condition in the Kyrgyz Republic with respect to grazing and a possible development of a quoting system on the local governmental level. V.R.S. Company Ltd. (http://naturalresources-centralasia.org/flermoneca/assets/files/Assessment%20of%20 the%20land%20condition%20in%20the%20KR%20with%20respect%20to%20grazing…_EN.pdf);

Lioubimtseva, E. (2015). A multi-scale assessment of human vulnerability to climate change in the Aral Sea basin. Environmental Earth Sciences 73(2), 719-729 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3104-1);

Maestre-Andrés, S., Calvet-Mir, L. and van den Bergh, J.C.J.M. (2016). Sociocultural valuation of ecosystem services to improve protected area management: A multi-method approach applied to Catalonia, Spain. Regional Environmental Change 16(3), 717-731 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-015-0784-3);

*McGinnis, M.D. & Ostrom, E. (2014). Social-ecological system framework: Initial changes and continuing challenges. Ecology and Society 19(2) (https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-06387-190230);

*Mestre, I. (2017). Environmental approaches and pasture management: the case of Kyrgyzstan [fr. Approches environnementales et gestion des pâturages. Le cas du Kirghizstan]. Études rurales 200, 254-273 (https://hal.science/hal-01907296);

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment & MA (2005). Ecosystems and human well-being. Island Press;

Moreau, C., Barnaud, C. and Mathevet, R. (2019). Conciliate agriculture with landscape and biodiversity conservation: A role-playing game to explore trade-offs among ecosystem services through social learning. Sustainability 11(2), 310 (https://doi.org/10.3390/su11020310);

National Statistics Committee (NSC) of the Kyrgyz Republic (2025). Database Dataset (https://stat.gov.kg/en/bazy-dannyh/);

Nguinguiri, J.-C. (2004). Governance of protected areas in the Gongo Basin: Principles and practices [fr. Gouvernance des aires protégées dans le Bassin du Congo: Principes et pratiques]. International Symposium “Tropical Forests in a Changing Global Context”, Royal Academy of Overseas Sciences, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 127-137;

*Norström, A.V., Cvitanovic, C., Löf, M.F., West, S., Wyborn, C., Balvanera, P., Bednarek, A.T., Bennett, E.M., Biggs, R., de Bremond, A., Campbell, B.M., Canadell, J.G., Carpenter, S.R., Folke, C., Fulton, E.A., Gaffney, O., Gelcich, S., Jouffray, J.-B., Leach, M., … Österblom, H. (2020). Principles for knowledge co-production in sustainability research. Nature Sustainability 3(3), article 3 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0448-2);

Olson, D.M. & Dinerstein, E. (2002). The Global 200: Priority ecoregions for global conservation. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 89(2), 199-224 (https://doi.org/10.2307/3298564);

Reed, F., Roath, R. and Bradford, D. (1999). The grazing response index: A simple and effective method to evaluate grazing impacts. Rangelands Archives 21(4), 3-6;

Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the commons: The evolution of institutions for collective action. Cambridge University Press;

Popa, F., Guillermin, M. and Dedeurwaerdere, T. (2015). A pragmatist approach to transdisciplinarity in sustainability research: From complex systems theory to reflexive science. Futures 65, 45-56 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2014.02.002);

Raudsepp-Hearne, C., Peterson, G.D. and Bennett, E.M. (2010). Ecosystem service bundles for analyzing tradeoffs in diverse landscapes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(11), 5242-5247 (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0907284107);

Rittel, H.W.J. & Webber, M.M. (1973). Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences 4(2), 155-169 (https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01405730);

Robinson, S. (2016). Land Degradation in Central Asia: Evidence, Perception and Policy. In: R. Behnke & M. Mortimore, eds. The End of Desertification? (pp. 451-490), Springer (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16014-1_17);

Salliou, N., Muradian, R. and Barnaud, C. (2019). Governance of Ecosystem Services in Agroecology: When Coordination is Needed but Difficult to Achieve. Sustainability 11(4), article 4 (https://doi.org/10.3390/su11041158);

Spenceley, A., Snyman, S. and Eagles, P.F.J. (2019). A decision framework on the choice of management models for park and protected area tourism services. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism 26, 72-80 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jort.2019.03.004);

Weiner, D.R. (1999). A Little Corner of Freedom: Russian Nature Protection from Stalin to Gorbachev, University of California Press;
Yin, R.K. & Campbell, D.T.P. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods, Sage.

Author contributions: 

MZh, IM, CAMP Alatoo PF and Baiboosun Jaratylysh Korugu PF conceived and supervised the study. MZh, CAMP Alatoo PF and Baiboosun Jaratylysh Korugu PF collected and organized the data. IM developed the conceptual framework, analysed data, wrote the paper and made manuscript revisions.

This post is also available in: Русский (Russian)