At the COP17 negotiations on combatting desertification (August 17–28, 2026) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, civil society saw an unprecedented attack on their rights to participation. Just like at recent climate summits, the language has shifted to implementation, — to tackle desertification, drought, and land degradation. But civil society has been ringing alarm bells about certain states…
In May 2026, the 13th World Urban Forum (WUF13) was held in Baku — the first time the forum had ever come to our region. On the sidelines of the event, the SPECA Cities Forum — bringing together Almaty, Arkadag, Bishkek, Dushanbe, Ganja, and Samarkand — officially became fully operational. The idea is to turn…
Published by Agora Energiewende on 26 June 2026, this policy brief investigates how deeper cross-border power system integration could accelerate the energy transition across Central Asia while lowering costs and improving energy security. The findings draw on the PyPSA-SPICE Central Asia model, a detailed power system model covering Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, developed to analyse…
The project “Regional Climate Dialogue for the Development of Mountain Regions”, implemented by the Public Foundation “Institute for Sustainable Development Strategy” (ISDS) in partnership with the Climate Action Network Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (CAN EECCA), aimed to strengthen regional cooperation and enhance climate resilience in the mountain regions of Central Asia. Mountain regions…
Central Asia remains one of the most climate-vulnerable regions in the world. Accelerating glacier melt in the Tien Shan and Pamir mountains, prolonged droughts, destructive dust storms, and the critical shrinking of the Caspian and Aral Seas are no longer abstract risks — they are an everyday reality for millions of people. Against this backdrop,…
Climate Action Network of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia (CAN EECCA), together with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), published an overview of the current nationally determined contributions (NDCs) of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Moldova. The article was prepared in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES). The opinions expressed may not…
The deadline for submitting updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement has officially passed, but the world is still waiting. As of March 17th, 2025, only 19 countries have submitted their third NDCs, although this process is crucial to overcoming the climate crisis. The situation in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central…