Country

Kyrgyzstan: 6 ecoregions. Each with its climate now and toward 2050, and its conservation tier.

Mountains define Kyrgyzstan, and its six ecoregions sort themselves by elevation. The Tian Shan appears three times: foothill arid steppe at the bottom, montane steppe and meadows through the middle elevations, and montane conifer forests, ranked Nature Imperiled, on favored slopes. The Central Asian northern desert reaches the country's lowland margins, the Gissaro-Alai open woodlands hold the southwest, and the Pamir alpine desert and tundra caps the high southeast. The climate is sharply continental, cold winters and dry summers, with moisture concentrated in the mountains rather than the valleys. For growers that means steppe and meadow conditions are the norm: hardy, cold-tolerant perennials and fruit culture in irrigated valleys, with the short season shortening further at every step upslope.