Climate change and its impact on Central Asia

Bishkek, April 20, 2021. / Kabar /. The region of Central Asia is also facing increasingly more irreversible processes caused by climate change, Kubanychbek Taabaldiev, director of Kabar News Agency told Tuesday speaking at the World Journalists Conference 2021.

The Kyrgyz journalist spoke about the climate change and its impact on Central Asia.

He told about the tragedy in the region caused by drying up of such a large lake as the Aral Sea, which was located in the center of the region and influenced the balancing of the regional climate. “The lake has dried up during two generations of people and now less than a quarter of the reservoir remains,” he said stressing the very noticeable changes in the climate in the region caused by the consequences of the ecological catastrophe.

“A dust storm rises from the bottom of the dried-up lake, which spreads almost throughout the entire region. Countries with large reserves of glaciers, like Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, are especially affected by this because dust falling on the glaciers from the Aral Sea accelerates the melting of the ice,” Taabaldiev noted.

He explained that due to the melting of glaciers, the total area of glaciers in the two countries has decreased by 30%, which caused low generation of electricity in winter and as a result forcible export of electricity from other neighboring countries.

The official called this only one of many consequences of climate change in the region.

“The second problem is the lack of drinking water in the regions of Central Asia. With a huge hydropower potential, almost a third of the population of the entire region suffers from a lack of clean drinking water. Gradually, with the financial support of international organizations, about a third of the population of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan has gained access to drinking water extracted from the ground through drilling,” he said.

Taabaldiev stressed that the situation with climate change on a global scale is causing concern in Central Asia and as a result of climate change, there is an increase in mudflows, landslides, and avalanches.

“In general, more than 10 million people live in the dangerous mudflow zones of Central Asia, and climate change, causing the accelerated melting of glaciers, leads to increased risks of mudflows down to the plains, where the bulk of the population lives,” he said.

The director of the news agency also emphasized that the rapid climate change around the world leads to the fact that the measures taken are lagging behind and the danger is growing.

“In the past two years, the situation has worsened due to the downturn in the economies of the region’s countries due to the coronavirus pandemic,” he said.

At the same time Taabaldiev noted that the media in the region regularly cover main issues related to the ecological situation. “However, their influence on the situation, to the mentality of society is not as well as it is in European countries and, as a good example, in South Korea,” he added.

“Therefore, the world community and international organizations should be notified of possible natural phenomena caused by climate change for a region with a total population of more than 80 million people and huge historical baggage,” he concluded.

The World Journalists Conference 2021 was held via videoconference. During two days about 60 journalists from 50 countries of the world discussed the role of journalism and the prospects of post COVID-19 era and global climate change issues.