The regional ecological summit in Astana, which began on April 22, became a platform for developing a unified survival strategy for Central Asia amid the climate crisis. The speeches of the presidents of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the region’s largest economies, signaled a shift from declarations to the formation of concrete regional institutions.
Value framework and global responsibility
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev moved the environmental agenda beyond narrowly technical issues, calling it “the foundation of humanity’s existence” and “a way of life.”
Tokayev’s key political thesis was criticism of a selective approach to international law and environmental standards. He stressed that developed countries should not impose their norms on developing regions without considering their need for economic growth.
“The global transition to more environmentally friendly models must be fair, balanced and encouraging… without public condemnation, reproaches and accusations,” the Kazakh leader noted.
Technological pragmatism of Shavkat Mirziyoyev
President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev cited alarming statistics: temperatures in Central Asia are rising twice as fast as the global average, and the region has already lost nearly a third of its glaciers. Against this backdrop, the growing deficit of water resources and the degradation of 80 million hectares of land are turning into an existential threat.
While the speech of Kazakhstan’s president set a value-based framework, Mirziyoyev’s remarks focused on creating concrete economic and industrial mechanisms for adaptation. His position is based on the thesis that environmental risks should be transformed into “new growth points” through technological modernization.
Tashkent’s central proposal was the creation of an interstate consortium “Clean Air of Central Asia,” which would assume the role of operator of “green” financing for modernizing factories across the region.
“International solidarity should first and foremost be expressed in ensuring timely, fair and unhindered access for developing countries to climate financing, advanced technologies and innovation,” Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized.
Developing this idea, the Uzbek president proposed forming a “Green Trade Corridor” — a system of preferential customs regimes for environmentally friendly goods. This would allow the regional market to be supplied more quickly with modern technologies. To attract external capital, Mirziyoyev also put forward the idea of creating a unified Investment Portfolio of climate projects, which would allow Central Asian countries to present a coherent strategy to global donors rather than fragmented initiatives.
Scientific initiatives were presented as a separate block: from creating a Regional Atlas of Environmental Changes to developing a joint “Red Book.” Thus, Tashkent proposes to complement political solidarity in the region with a strict institutional and economic base.
Comparison of approaches: mechanisms versus strategies
While Shavkat Mirziyoyev proposed a package of eight applied instruments (including the “Clean Air” consortium and the “Green Trade Corridor”), Kassym-Jomart Tokayev focused on systemic initiatives:
- International water organization: Kazakhstan is promoting the creation of a specialized UN agency for water resource management.
- Digitalization and AI: Tokayev announced the creation of a Regional Digital Ecosystem, noting that environmental problems cannot be solved without artificial intelligence.
- Energy balance: Kazakhstan confirmed its intention to develop carbon-free energy, including the construction of its first nuclear power plant and the use of “clean coal” technologies.
Shared challenges and “points of convergence”
Despite differences in emphasis, the positions of the two leaders coincided in their assessment of critical threats for the region:
- Land degradation: Both presidents noted the catastrophic scale of desertification. Joint efforts have already planted millions of hectares of forest on the bed of the Aral Sea.
- Biodiversity: Tokayev reported the restoration of saiga antelope and snow leopard populations, proposing the creation of an International Fund for the Conservation of Rare Species. This echoes Mirziyoyev’s initiative to create a regional “Red Book.”
- Caspian security: Kazakhstan firmly outlined its position against any use of armed forces in the Caspian region, calling the sea an object of exclusive environmental concern.
Summary
If the speech of the Uzbek leader can be viewed as a “roadmap” for technological modernization, then the address of the Kazakh president became a “manifesto of environmental sovereignty” for the region. Both leaders agreed on the main point: Central Asia can no longer afford to act separately.
Ecology has officially been recognized as a factor of regional security requiring unified investment portfolios and shared scientific databases. The key issue, in our view, remains implementation discipline — turning the announced initiatives into functioning interstate bodies.