Return of large grazers to curb steppe fires and restore ecosystems in Kazakhstan

The return of saiga antelopes and other large grazing animals to Kazakhstan’s steppe is set to curb increasingly severe wildfires and restore fragile ecosystems, as scientists link the absence of wildlife to rising fire risks and broader climate pressures.

The build-up of dry vegetation has been tied to a surge in wildfires across the vast Central Asian grasslands, which cover more than 40% of Kazakhstan’s territory.

“The steppe grassland ecosystem cannot really be healthy without a big grazer,” said Vera Voronova, executive director of the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK), on the sidelines of the Regional Ecological Forum 2026 in Astana in April. “Without that, a lot of dry grass will be produced.”

The most striking example of restoration has been the saiga antelope, once pushed to the brink of extinction by poaching driven by demand for its horns in traditional medicine.

“In the early 2000s there were only around 20,000 left in the whole country, while in the middle of the previous century there were around half a million,” Voronova said.

A coordinated conservation effort launched in 2004 under the Altyn Dala, or “Golden Steppe”, initiative has since reversed that decline.

“Now we have very considerable success with the saiga – there are more than 4 million across the country,” she said.

The reintroduction of saiga antelopes has broader implications for the overall health of the steppe ecosystem. 

“Our scientists did analysis when the Soviet Union was abandoned and the number of livestock decreased, saiga decreased,” Voronova said. “We can observe from satellite data that the number, frequency and severity of steppe fires has increased significantly.”

The findings have prompted conservationists and policymakers to rethink how to manage the steppe, one of the largest continuous grassland ecosystems in the world.

“It means we need to think about how we can bring sustainable grazing pressure to huge areas of grassland,” she told journalists.

In December 2022, the International Union for Conservation of Nature reclassified the saiga from critically endangered to near threatened, marking what Voronova described as “a tremendous achievement in the conservation of big mammals in the world”.

The recovery has been driven by a combination of strict anti-poaching laws, expanded protected areas and technical support from conservation groups.

“The government of Kazakhstan [introduced] legislation to prevent illegal trade and poaching,” Voronova said. “We as civil society also provide technical support… there are more than 20 sniffer dogs trained to detect saiga on the border.”

That strategy is now being implemented through efforts to restore populations of native large herbivores, including the saiga antelope and the Przewalski’s horse, the last remaining wild horse species.

The approach also intersects with climate change, which is already reshaping ecosystems across Kazakhstan. “We have data from analysis showing the range of many species has changed because of different climate factors,” Voronova said. “We see some of the birds which would normally nest in the south… now recorded in the north and centre of Kazakhstan.”

Authorities have designated large swathes of protected land. “Since 2008 the government declared 5mn hectares of protected areas specifically in the grassland ecosystem, which is a really huge area,” she said.

Education campaigns have targeted rural communities, where poaching was once widespread. “We have many examples where kids live around saiga and never even see them, and they have parents who do poaching activities,” Voronova said.

The saiga’s rapid recovery has been aided by its biology. “Females born in May can produce babies the next May. Without good conditions they would not be doing well,” she said.

With saiga numbers rebounding, attention is turning to restoring other lost grazers, particularly the Przewalski’s horse, which became extinct in the wild in the 20th century and survives only through captive breeding programmes.

“Saiga were not the only large grazers living in Kazakhstan, we also had wild horses,” Voronova said. “Now we have a very ambitious project to bring back wild horses.”

Two groups of horses transported from European zoos have already been introduced to central Kazakhstan, where they have adapted well to local conditions.

“We already have two groups of the horses… and they have been successfully adapted to the local conditions,” she said.

The reintroduction site was chosen for its favourable environment. “The location [was] chosen in central Kazakhstan where we have very good pasture, water resources and still very little number of domestic horses, which is a crucial condition,” Voronova said.

The project, developed in cooperation with institutions including Prague Zoo, aims to establish a self-sustaining population.

“We plan to cooperate under this project for three to four years more to have at least 40-50 horses in Kazakhstan,” she said. “And then this group can produce a sustainable natural population.”

Beyond grazing animals, Kazakhstan is also working to protect other species affected by environmental pressures. The country hosts three major migratory bird flyways, with species such as the steppe eagle heavily reliant on its grasslands.

“About 85% of the global population nests in the steppe in Kazakhstan,” Voronova said, though the birds face threats including electrocution on power lines and hazards along migration routes in the Middle East and South Asia.

ACBK itself has grown alongside Kazakhstan’s independence, expanding its work across multiple ecosystems. “Our organisation is based in Kazakhstan, we are a national organisation, working for 22 years,” Voronova said. “We are a young organisation operating in a young independent country.”

Today, as climate change and land-use pressures intensify, Kazakhstan’s experiment with restoring natural grazing systems is being watched as a potential model for managing grasslands globally. “I think it’s a very good example where complex conservation measures are applied,” Voronova said.