A dynamic group of undergraduate students at the University of Central Asia (UCA) in Naryn (Kyrgyzstan) and Khorog (Tajikistan) are actively raising awareness about ecological issues, and encouraging participation in environmentally sustainable practices, according to the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).

UCA’s Eco-Warriors club in Naryn aims to protect the environment, and regularly organizes community clean-ups, social events and environment-related challenges on campus, as well as other activities to raise awareness within the community.

Across the Naryn campus, the club has reportedly set up 25 boxes to sort recyclable materials. 

In 2020, the Eco-Warriors club won a grant from the United States Embassy, enabling the club to install recycling boxes in all schools, universities and offices in the city of Naryn. This initiative will also include conducting training on ecological problems, how to recycle and segregate waste, and the importance of living eco-friendly lifestyles.

At the Khorog campus, the UCA Green Community was established in September 2018.  The student-led club promotes reducing waste and encourages zero-waste practices in Khorog.

Students have launched projects on Early Environmental Childhood Education, recycling, raising environmental awareness, and are also developing an environmental book.  Club members regularly organize community clean-ups and led a tree planting event on campus to celebrate Earth Day in April 2020.

“Currently, the only way to recycle in Khorog is to transport waste from Khorog to Dushanbe.  We collect paper and plastic bottles, and send them for recycling,” said Anisa Abibulloyeva, who leads the UCA Green Community.  “We only use trucks that are travelling to Dushanbe anyway, in order to minimize our carbon footprint.”  In the future, the club hopes to establish a recycling machine in the city of Khorog, where the University campus is located.

UCA was founded in 2000 as a private, not for profit, secular university under an International Treaty signed by the Presidents of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, and His Highness the Aga Khan; ratified by the respective Parliaments and registered with the United Nations.  The University is a unique institution of higher education focused on the development of mountain societies, with its School of Arts and Sciences residential campuses in Naryn (Kyrgyz Republic) and Khorog (Tajikistan), designed by award winning architect, Arata Isozaki. The Tekeli campus in Kazakhstan is currently in the planning phase. UCA’s Graduate School of Development has three research institutes, and its School of Professional and Continuing Education has graduated over 150,000 learners since 2006.