Khovar news agency reports that Tajik filmmakers are actively working on a documentary titled The Farewell Dance of the Zeravshan Glacier.  Mirzo Asozoda, the creator of numerous films showcasing Tajikistan's natural treasures, shared with Khovar that the film aims to draw attention to climate change, which is significantly impacting the nation’s nature, glaciers, rivers, irrigation, and hydropower resources.

According to Asozoda, the concept of the film has been discussed with the scientific community.  The Zeravshan Glacier, a massive dendritic glacier, is located upstream of the Zeravshan River, nestled between the southern slopes of the Turkestan Range and the northern slopes of the Zeravshan Range.  Research from the Hydrometeorology Agency reveals that the glacier stretches 26.5 km in length and spans 38.2 km².  Historical records indicate that its volume is around 14.4 km³, but from 1979 to 2023, the glacier’s edge has receded by over 2000 meters.

"Tajikistan leads Central Asia in terms of glaciers, hosting some of the region’s largest. Over recent decades, due to climate change, major glaciers, including the Zeravshan, have diminished and receded significantly. It’s shrinking so rapidly that it seems to be dancing, showing us a farewell to its existence," Asozoda explained, offering insight into the film's title.  The degradation of glaciers adds risks to sustainable development, as well as to energy and food security throughout Central Asia.

Meanwhile, Radio Liberty reported back in 2019 that Tajik scientists have announced that the Zeravshan glacier, one of the largest glaciers in Central Asia, has receded 1700 meters over the last 40 years.  The scientists compared surveys of the glacier from 1979, 1991, 2009 and 2019. Photograph images clearly show scientists in 1979 standing high up on a mass of ice, at a spot which today stands totally bare. The glacier has shrunk by an average of 40 meters each year.

The Zeravshan glacier is a long, branching glacier in Tajikistan, the largest in the Hissaro-Alay mountain range. It is composed of the main trunk and 20 large tributary glaciers. It gives birth to the River Mastchoh, a major tributary of the Zeravshan River, which provides water to around six million inhabitants of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. According to scientists, the retreat of the glaciers and the reduction in ice cover will have a negative impact not only on the volume of water in the Zeravshan River, but also on all other major rivers in the region.

Climate change projections for Tajikistan suggest that rising temperatures will reduce the number of frost days.

By 2050, these frost days may decrease by 15 to 50 days per year. Days of heavy rainfall are expected to increase, with the highest warming rates observed in the northern part of the country. Meanwhile, the southeastern region has seen a 1% annual reduction in precipitation since 1950.

By 2060–2080, the volume of water from the melting Zeravshan Glacier is expected to decrease, potentially leading to its complete disappearance and negatively impacting the water balance across Tajikistan and Central Asia.

In the 1990s of the last century the number of glaciers in Tajikistan amounted to more than 14,000.  Over the last 30 years, 1,000 of them have been completely destroyed.  By 2050, this figure may drop by a third, which threatens flash floods from bursting ice lakes.