Turkmen Scientists Turn Theory to Practice to Save Kopet Dag Mountains

by Galina Kamakhina

Every resident of Turkmenistan realizes that the rapidly deteriorating environment of Turkmenistan is becoming a human tragedy. The Aral Sea is drying up, soil is eroding and in many places desert is replacing what was once fertile land. Our home, the environment, is changing so quickly that we at times feel overwhelmed and even helpless.

What can be done? How can the need for economic growth be reconciled with ecological concerns? How can we teach ourselves to harmonize our activities with the needs of nature? How can we communicate to the public that we have only one world to live in?

Noev Kovcheg, created in 1996 as a division of the Ashgabat Ecology Club, has been trying to find answers to these questions. The NGO, whose name is Turkmen for Noah's Ark, consists of 16 scientists of various backgrounds and several students from Ashgabat's middle schools. It is focusing its efforts on preserving rare ecosystems in the Kopet Dag mountains, which are an important element of the region's ecological, economic and social structure.

The Kopet Dag mountain range is experiencing an ecological crisis characterized by a rapid loss of plant and wildlife habitats that threatens to fundamentally degrade and change the genetic make-up of the region. Of its 1,800 species of plants, 67 are endangered and 15 are virtually extinct. The range is also a vital part of the global mountain system, pressing us to practice the phrase, "Think globally, act locally."

For Noev Kovcheg, this means that scientific work must have a social aspect and that projects undertaken should include developing ecological awareness among the general population as a major, if not primary, element. In the past year, the biologists, botanists and zoologists of Noev Kovcheg have developed and implemented several projects that they hope will influence the fate of Turkmenistan's environment while educating its people.

Most notable among these is an ISAR-funded project titled "To Save the Vavilov Onion." The onion, which was once common in rural areas of Tukmenistan, has been threatened in recent years due to the increasing numbers of rural residents who gather it for food. Members of Noev Kovcheg, hoping to discourage people from collecting the onion in its natural habitat, have traveled to villages and small cities located near the mountains, distributing seeds and explaining how the onion can be grown in home gardens. Additionally, they found more isolated areas where the onion still grows, and took measures to stabilize and protect those habitats.

The issue of sustainable development is particularly urgent in rural areas that border Turkmenistan's national nature preserves. As economic conditions in the country deteriorate, government regulation of land use has weakened and many rural dwellers have returned to near-subsistence farming and ranching. Tension is on the rise between local farmers and shepherds and researchers and rangers who live and work on the preserves, as shepherds bring their herds to the biologically rich valleys and fields of the national parks, harming precious ecosystems in the process.

In an attempt to remedy this problem, Noev Kovcheg is developing a project to introduce various bean crops, in particular soy, into rural agriculture. Growing soy would provide local shepherds an alternative to grazing on the park lands and also an ecologically sensible and sustainable cash crop. The project presents an alternative to direct confrontation with shepherds in the battle to preserve the rare ecosystems of the Kopet Dag mountains. It will also serve as a means to promote biodiversity on a local level and protect park lands, while introducing sustainable forms of agriculture. The work of Noev Kovcheg has become a cooperative effort, applying scientific theory to problems that concern both rural residents of Turkmenistan and environmentalists.

The growth of the environmental NGO movement in Turkmenistan has meant the mobilization of rural Turkmen under the guidance and leadership of scientists and intellectuals who formerly spent much of their time in university halls and laboratories. Given the opportunity to take part in projects funded by various international organizations that have only recently become a viable source of funding in Central Asia, scientists are now motivated to put theory about the preservation of the environment into practice.

The new playing field created by the NGO movement has also helped to redistribute power and money in the scientific community, since international donors have generally awarded funding to those working effectively on concrete problems. The number of titles and the position of authority one holds in this or that institute means less in the new world of NGOs.

Tension between scientists and the ministries that once funded them has developed, due to government fear of organized, active individuals escaping its control. But among scientists themselves, the birth of environmental NGOs provides a chance to use their knowledge and experience to make a difference in solving real problems facing society and the environment.

Galina Kamakhina is a founding member of Noev Kovcheg and member of Biostan, a Central Asian biodiversity coalition. Translated by Andrew Yim.

Noev Kovcheg, Mocroregion Mir 1/2, House 48, Apt. 60, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, ph: (3632) 25-35-16, fax: (3632) 24-26-94, <catena@glas.apc.org>