CIAO DATE: 03/2010
February 2010
The people of Tajikistan, a small, mountainous country in Central Asia, are experiencing the impacts of climate change. More frequent droughts and heightened extreme weather conditions are hitting poor communities, eroding their resilience. The country’s glaciers are melting, bringing the danger, in the future, of greater water shortages and potential disputes in the wider region. Last summer’s unusually good rains and consequent harvest brought some relief to rural communities across Tajikistan but the long-term trends are clear – and ominous. This report is based on interviews undertaken in communities in Spitamen and Ganchi in the north and Vose, Fakhor, and Temurmalik in the south in October 2009. It gives an insight into how poor men and women are experiencing climate change, and what challenges they are currently facing – and will continue to face in the future. It makes recommendations on what needs to happen to help them cope better with climate change.
Resource link: Reaching Tipping Point? Climate change and poverty in Tajikistan [PDF] - 1.3M