The Central Asian Desert Initiative (CADI) has launched its First Call for Abstracts on 01 July 2021. This call aims to foster international collaboration in raising awareness of the importance of cold winter desert ecosystems.

Successful applicants will have an opportunity to present their research paper during the Conference or display their research outcomes at the poster session organized within the CWD Conference in December 2021. Selected abstracts will be published as a collection, and full papers be included in conference proceedings.

The deadline for submission of abstracts has been extended till 15 August 2021.

Selected abstracts will be announced not later than 15 September 2021. Authors will be requested to submit full papers by 15 October 2021.

Submission guidelines

Applicants are invited to submit abstracts in the scope of the following thematic areas, but are not limited to these themes strictly: 

• Biodiversity and ecosystem protection
• Transboundary migration of species in cold winter desert regions 
• Protected areas
• Human security – improvement of livelihoods of local communities, infrastructure development, creation of new employment opportunities to make the villages in the deserts attractive for living.
• Climate change and combating desertification
• Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) including sustainable land and pasture management (SLM) in CWDs
• Saxaul (Haloxylon ssp.) desert forests 
• Best practices on data collection, management, and dissemination
• Water resources in desert areas and sustainable use of water (including traditional knowledge)
• The role of alternative renewable energy in desert areas
• Prospects for the development of agriculture in desert
• Any other topic relevant to CWD ecosystems

Abstracts should be written in either English or Russian languages and not exceed 500 words. The selection committee reserves the right to reject a submission, if it does not follow the guidelines above.

Proposals must be submitted by email to Nargizakhon Khujaeva (Ms.) Nargizakhon.Khujaeva@fao.org titled “Application for CWD Conference”.

Support for Applicants

Potential applicants are invited to submit any requests for clarification in writing to Nargizakhon.Khujaeva@fao.org by 10 July 2021.