This is my first post as the Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia coordinator for 350.org. I am exciting to be diving in with news from our friends in Tajikistan:
Melting glaciers is a stark example of the realities of climate change already unfolding around the planet—and the Youth Ecology Center in Tajikistan is helping raise the alarm about the situation in Central Asia. The great paradox for folks in Tajikistan is that they did not have anything to do with the accelerated melting. Yet as glaciers there dwindle Tajikistan and even the whole Central Asian region will face increased drinking water and irrigation shortages, currently dependent on glacial sources. And that future brings with it the threat of serious political and economic consequences right up to military conflicts and ecology migration.
The Youth Ecology Center is leading the charge to highlight the realities of the melting glaciers and engage youth as well as politicians in the country to take action. They’ve begun connecting the dots already by heading up to the mountains for a photo with melting snow pack:
On the 5th May they are going to arrange a presentation for youth and ecology organizations in Tajikistan in Dushanbe. The theme of presentation will be melting glaciers in Tajikistan and connecting the dots with climate change worldwide.
Click here to see more photos from the mountain “dot” on Facebook. The above photograph is of the Varzob valley—a suburb of Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.
The glaciers in this valley generates water for the Dushanbe River. If the now melting glaciers are gone completely the city will lose their main water source. Young people on the photo hold a banner with Pamirs mountain range, also known as the ‘Roof of the World’ where more than 50% of the water of Central Asia is stored in a form of ice. Shrinking of these major glaciers would result in severe water shortage for the whole region.
For more about the melting glaciers and climate change in Tajikistan, check out this United Nations video documenting the stories of three generations of Pamirs women witnessing the glaciers melting: