The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), that took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, identified three key environmental issues facing the global community in the 21st century: climate change, biodiversity, and desertification. The follow-up World Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002 reviewed progress in addressing these closely interrelated issues and highlighted the need for promoting synergies as a strategy for the design and implementation of more efficient and effective solutions to interlinked problems.The following outcomes for 2006 were envisaged:
- Enhanced regional cooperation between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and mainstreaming of sustainable land management concepts and principles in regional, national, and local environmental management, and economic development, plans, and programmes, resulting in improved legislative, policy, institutional, technical, and economic incentives, environment, and a regional strategy and action plan for the sustainable management of the High Pamir and Pamir–Alai mountain ecosystems;
- Improved capacity of Tajikistan's and Kyrgyzstan's public and private sector agency research and advisory support service providers, and civil society organisations, to promote sustainable land management within the High Pamir and Pamir–Alai mountains;
- Restoration and enhancement of the productive and protective functions (ecological goods and services) of the High Pamir and Pamir–Alai mountain ecosystems, thereby supporting sustainable higher value ecosystem resource-based rural livelihoods, and improving the social and economic well-being of the rural population;
- Experience with project management, decision making, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems, gained from promoting sustainable land management in the High Pamir and Pamir–Alai mountain ecosystems, serving as the basis for replication within comparable transboundary mountain regions in Asia and elsewhere.
