FACTORS ENABLING ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY IN CENTRAL ASIA
Keywords:
Ecological sustainability, Central Asia, climate change, water resources, regional cooperation, green economy, glaciers, desertification, transboundary governance.Abstract
This article presents a narrative policy analysis of the key factors enabling ecological sustainability in the Central Asian region. Drawing on institutional reports, international agency publications, and regional policy documents, the study identifies eight enabling factors: regional cooperation mechanisms, circular economy transition, glacier conservation, afforestation and land restoration, biodiversity conservation, green economy development, institutional governance reform, and international financial mobilisation. Climate change, water scarcity, glacier retreat, desertification, and air pollution are examined as the primary environmental stressors. The analysis reveals that achieving ecological sustainability requires an integrated approach, sustained political will, and coordinated transboundary governance, an objective that decades of post-Soviet regional cooperation have only partially fulfilled.
