Center for Natural Resources and Sustainability

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan

German Foreign Ministry

German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), Potsdam Institute for Climate Research (PIK), Helmholtz Center in Potsdam — German Research Center for Earth Sciences (GFZ), Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg

April 2020 – March 2024

Climate change, disaster risk reduction, water resources, energy and agriculture

In January 2020, the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented the Green Central Asia initiative at a conference in Berlin, where the foreign ministers of the Central Asian countries supported the idea and expressed their willingness to cooperate. Within the framework of this initiative, the Kazakh-German University implements the program Green Education and Science for Central Asia (GESCA).

Enhancing and sharing knowledge on interrelation between water, climate and security in Central Asia (CA) and Afghanistan by improving the regional scientific and educational cooperation among young and senior professionals to support the political dialog and partnership development in CA.

Organization of educational process of the Master's program on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM MA) at Deutsch-Kasachische Universität (DKU), which is aimed at training of specialists with knowledge of all aspects of water management - economic, political, legislative, social and environmental aspects;

1. Organization of scientific research in the field of natural resource management in Central Asia;
2. Promotion of the development of scientific and practical potential for researchers on the problems of natural resources management in Central Asian countries;
3. Establishment of scientific relations between the international and regional scientific institutions.

Students, young and senior scientists of CA and Europe, decision-makers, water leaders from Central Asia countries.

Educational component is represented by the Master Program on Integrated Water Resources Management. Updating of the existing teaching program and introduction of new teaching modules at the IWRM MA, which correspond to the climate security will be achieved through the:

• Scholarships for candidates from all Central Asia countries and Afghanistan.
• Organization of field researches and support of online education for IWRM MA;
• organization of education process and field trips of IWRM MA;

External partners: DAAD, FU Berlin

Scientific component will be implemented through Scientific Fellowships at DKU. Strengthening the scientific capacities of the DKU research in the field of water and climate security prospective will be achieved by the inclusion of scientific fellowships at DKU in cooperation with Green Central Asia partners covering:

• Natural Science and Climate Security. Research in the fields of global change, climate impacts and sustainable development of Central Asia countries during the changes of water availability.
• Water Governance in the Climate Change. Water governance paradigm, which refers to the political, social, economic and administrative systems in place that influence water’s use and management.

For the last few years the following researches were conducted:

Efficiency of the use of rangelands during the Soviet community and after the independence of Kazakhstan (Maira Kussainova)

The perspective approach to assess the long-term ecological and landscape dynamics of “Western Europe-Western China” transport corridor within the Republic of Kazakhstan (Viktoriya Krylova)

Adaptive water governance in Central Asia: Un-puzzling the concept(Bota Sharipova)

Transfer of farms to sustainable irrigation in Kazakhstan (Aliya Tankibayeva)

High-mountain environmental changes in northern Tien Shan (Bulat Zubairov)

Comparison of EIA trends on transboundary rivers in EU and Kazakhstan. EU legislation - a good example? (Milena Oravcova)

External partners: PIK

Capacity building component is implemented through the organization of Summer Camp and Conferences, aimed at enhancement of research skills and enforcement of the political dialogue as well as engagement of civil society decision making, namely:

• Summer Camp on Ecosystems, Society and Economic aspects of the Region of Aral (ESERA) with a focus on climate change. Activity 1 – Aral Summer School on awareness raising for young water and climate specialists and managers of Central Asia. Activity2 – Research on ecosystems, society and economics in the selected case studies in the region of the Northern Aral Sea.

As a result of the implementation of the ESERA project , the following results were achieved:

1. Scientific research was carried out on one of the most urgent problems of the areas, i.e. geobotany, fisheries, socio-economic state of the region, archeology, hydrology, geomorphology, etc.
2. More than 10 young specialists, 5 local scientific supervisors and 1 foreign supervisor of scientific writing were involved.
3. Desk work, theoretical and practical classes in thematic areas, scientific writing and GIS were conducted online.
4. In 2020 and 2021, 2-week field work was carried out in the settlements of the Aral region, on the territory of the drained bottom of the Aral Sea and on the Kokaral dam.

External partners: IFAS

Project lead: Barbara Janusz-Pawletta,
janusz-pawletta@dku.kz, +7-727 355 05 51 (ex. 232)

Project Coordinator: Larissa Kogutenko,
l.kogutenko@dku.kz, + 7 727 355 05 51 (ex. 328)

Project Assistant: Dinara Akisheva ,
akisheva@dku.kz, + 7 727 355 05 51 (ex. 237)