Desertification of Southern Russia and Kazakhstan In Part Result of Cancellation of Stalin’s Plan to Transform Nature There, ‘Rhythm of Eurasia’ Commentator Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 29 – In the last years of Stalin’s rule, the Soviet dictator made plans to “transform nature” by among other things rerouting the flow of water in Russian rivers. Those plans were cancelled by his successors; but the problems this program was designed to fix remain – and Stalin’s ideas remain relevant and should be revisited, Aleksey Chichkin says.

            The Rhythm of Eurasia analyst says that in 1948 Stalin announced plans for reforestation of areas along these rivers and other means to redirect and save Russia in the southern portions of the RSFSR and the Kazakh SSR (ritmeurasia.ru/news--2026-04-29--stalinskij-plan-preobrazovanija-prirody-otmenen-v-1953-m-no-aktualen-ponyne-87368).

            “Had this program been fully implemented” – and Stalin suggested it would take until 1966 -- Chichkin continues, “it would have enabled this vast region to boost natural soil fertility, while minimizing the extent of soil degradation and desertification, the impact of dry winds, the frequency of droughts, and other associated climatic and environmental extremes.”

            As a result of the cancellation of Stalin’s program by his successors, the situation has gotten worse with forests along riverways being cut down, erosion and water loss increased, and all the other problems that his program would have addressed earlier when it was easier are now much larger, the commentator says.

            Consequently, it is long past time for Moscow to consider reviving the Stalin-era plan regarding the most effective means of fighting desertification in the south of Russia and in the adjoining regions of Kazakhstan. Indeed, unless it does so, these problems almost certainly will continue to expand and may become too large to address at all.

            What makes this argument worth noting is that it represents an attempt, one that is now far from alone, to present Stalin not only as the victor in the Great Fatherland War but a thoughtful statesman concerned about the well-being of his country and thus someone who should be emulated rather than condemned.