Greetings from Tajikistan!
i am here working on 3 stories about glacial and permafrost melt in Central Asia. A video in Tajikstan, then Kyrgyzstan and then Altai Republic. It is not a good outlook. On Thursday, i interviewed two top Tajikistan Climate experts. It seems the Tajikistan glaciers here are melting just as fast as Antarctica, Greenland, and the Alps. They supply 60% of all Central Asia’s water! The local people are experiencing new weather systems (different from their traditional calendars), food security issues and later they will have issues with water supply. Along with this some local mountain fauna and flora will become extinct and human health issues will follow: TB, cardiovascular, fertility issues and malaria from Afghanistan plains now moving further in to the warmer mountain territories.
i have brought with me Russian filmmaker Ivan Golovnev (director Old man Peter) and we are collaborating with local NGO partners (Tajikistan Academy of Sciences) and community storytellers (like before in OZ, Borneo and Indonesia).
we have with us a little data projector, and whilst making the videos, we are holding small film festivals to share with local people some of the other global video stories of climate change community adaptation. hopefully through discussion, other UN agencies and local NGO partners we can plant some “adaptation” seeds with them.
it was my 33rd birthday yesterday and we went out to dinner to a Ukrainian restaurant. it’s nice to be back in Central Asia and using my basic russian. I got sick last week from a typical regional meal (chunks of BBQ meat and potatoes), but am getting better and now conditioning my iron stomach for the next three months of this kitchen. internet is not so great outside of dushanbe, but i will try to keep you updated and send video links where i can. poka!!
Tags: Climate change, tajikistan
