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Drought and Crumbling Infrastructure: Threats to Kyrgyzstan’s Agricultural Sector
November 19th, 2021
Via The Diplomat, a report on how the agricultural sector’s struggles with water scarcity presage wider troubles in Kyrgyzstan if infrastructure and policies cannot be fixed: According to a World Food Program forecast, the summer of 2021 was predicted to be much drier, hotter, and with little rainfall for the entire Central Asian region than previous […]
Read more »Central Asia’s Collapsing Water Tower
October 10th, 2021
Via Cryopolitics, an article on Central Asia’s glaciers: Today’s ‘Fieldwork Friday’ photos come from Kyrgyzstan, where I ventured in 2018 during a trip along the ancient Silk Roads crisscrossing Central Asia. Over the course of a three-day trek, with my Kyrgyz guide (who spent his winters working in a reindeer meat processing plant in Yakutia, […]
Read more »The Soviet Water Legacy in Central Asia
September 4th, 2021
Via The Diplomat, a look at the complex Soviet legacy in Central Asia’s water and energy infrastructure: The Soviet water and energy legacy has been a painful issue for the countries of Central Asia for a long time. But the dynamics of relations between the countries of the region in the last five years demonstrate […]
Read more »Kyrgyz Farmers Battered By Drought
August 31st, 2021
Via Eurasia, a report on Kyrgyz farmers suffering from the nation’s drought: It was 35 degrees Celsius outside. A hazy mirage shimmered over the hot summer soil in Petrovka, a village in the northern Kyrgyzstan region of Chui. A sharp bout of torrential rain had soaked the fields a day before a recent Eurasianet visit, but […]
Read more »Anger, Frustration Increase As Central Asia’s Drought Continues
August 10th, 2021
Via Radio Free Europe, an article on Central Asia’s drought: Most of Central Asia is experiencing an extreme drought this year, and the people there know that all too well. They swelter in scorching heat and record temperatures amid a severe lack of rain. But that does not stop them from looking for someone to […]
Read more »Military Clashes in Central Asia Over Water Likely to Grow
June 26th, 2021
Via Window on Eurasia, an article on water stress in Central Asia: The military conflict between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan was in the first instance about the lack of agreement between the two countries over control of water flows. That conflict cost 55 dead and about 300 wounded and forced tens of thousands of people to […]
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