Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan is open to many international projects on sectoral reforms, and civil society is the most active and involved in environmental issues among the Central Asian states. In Internet technologies and environmental management, significant changes have occurred in the country over the past three years (2020–2022). In 2018–2022, the country adopted concepts and programmes on a “green” and “creative” economy. Public environmental monitoring is booming, new Aarhus Centres and new ministry change the environmental information landscape.

These reforms, on the one hand, expand the possibilities of e-governance and data exchange, and on the other hand, their rapid pace is not conductive to a solid formation of regular preparation of the state of the environment reports and indicators.

The national state of the environment report covering 2015–2018 was published in 2020 in three languages, and is available online at ecoreportkg.info and at the website of the Aarhus Centres of Kyrgyzstan at aarhus.kg.

Statistical environmental datasets are gradually improving, and most recent environmental statistics yearbooks are well designed and contain many indicators from the UNECE set. Kyrgyzstan is active in developing national SDG indicators, which are used to track progress on implementation of its national sustainable development strategy 2040. In 2020, Kyrgyzstan submitted its first National Voluntary Review on SDGs.

Citizen monitoring of the environment is gaining recognition, and is taken seriously by the authorities, especially on air quality in Bishkek in cold periods of the year, when pollution levels are high. Innovative monitoring methods implemented at the farm and district levels improve the efficiency of irrigation water management in the Chu River basin.