Throughout 2025, Central Asia Solidarity Groups worked closely with local civil society organizations across Central Asia to strengthen community resilience, environmental protection, and women’s and youth empowerment. This blog post is part of a three-part series highlighting stories from our partners ISDS, El-Too, and Little Earth each showing how collaboration and local knowledge continue to shape sustainable change beyond the project’s initial three years.
Centralasiengrupperna works together with local civil society organizations across Central Asia, promoting gender equality, protecting the environment, and building stronger, more resilient communities. One of our partners is the Institute for Sustainable Development Strategy (ISDS) in Kyrgyzstan. Over the last years, we have partnered with them to support sustainable livelihoods and safeguard sensitive ecosystems. Together, we’ve focused on strengthening youth participation, fostering inclusive decision-making processes, and promoting community-driven approaches to biodiversity and climate adaptation.
Although 2025 brought the main phase of the current project to a close, it didn’t feel like a conclusion. If anything, it marked the beginning of a new chapter in a much longer partnership. The past several months built on the groundwork we’d already laid, involved more people in the process, and created new opportunities for communities and regions to collaborate – efforts that will continue long after this project cycle. Between March and August 2025, ISDS and its partners launched a series of activities: conserving natural resources, supporting women and youth, and connecting citizens, scientists, and local authorities in dialogue.
Most of these efforts took place in the mountains and wetlands of northern Kyrgyzstan – areas where climate change, overgrazing, and excessive pressure on resources have already changed everyday life. Local families depend on these lands for grazing, water, and their livelihoods, but hotter temperatures and unpredictable rainfall have made things more difficult. The project helped people turn these challenges into collective action.
In May, for example, ISDS celebrated the International Day for Biodiversity with a wide-reaching educational campaign. They reached 32 schools, and over fifty students had the chance to present their own creative projects about the environment. More than two thousand students learned about the importance of biodiversity and how their daily choices affect their surroundings. Through these school-based initiatives, youth engagement became one of the most dynamic aspects of ISDS’s work, helping young people see themselves not only as learners but as active participants in protecting their communities’ natural resources.
Education remained at the center during the summer, especially through training sessions. In early June, ISDS held three workshops on the Gender Action Learning System (GALS), bringing together fifty-four participants – most of them women. The workshops encouraged people to think about climate resilience, household incomes, and what it really means to care for shared resources. They discussed how climate change affects agriculture and food security, and they developed practical plans to make their communities more sustainable. Many of these sessions brought together women, youth, and local leaders, allowing them to practice joint decision-making and learn how to integrate gender equality into everyday community planning.
At the end of July, the “Shepherds’ School” took place – a three-day, hands-on event for herders and those working in tourism and agriculture. Participants discussed the benefits ecosystems provide and the environmental changes they’ve observed: thinning grasslands, shrinking rivers, and fewer migratory birds. They exchanged traditional knowledge about pasture management, learned from scientists and rangers, and shared advice on balancing economic needs with the land’s capacity.
In August, all these efforts came together at the “Save Son-Kul: Kech-Koch” community festival. The event gathered 108 people – schoolchildren, youth, local officials, and environmental activists – for performances, speeches, and exhibitions that highlighted how the community can protect wetlands and work toward sustainability. Bayaly Dosaliev, head of the Kochkor District, summarized the festival:
“This event is a platform where activists and schoolchildren, through performances and speeches, try to convey to local communities the importance of addressing the environmental issues of Son-Kul. Thanks to such initiatives, residents better understand the need for environmental protection and are becoming more active in its defense. The Kochkor District Administration fully supports these efforts and will provide every assistance in addressing environmental and conservation issues.”
The festival was more than just a cultural event – it demonstrated real progress. People are becoming more aware of environmental issues, and there is greater cooperation between residents and local authorities. Immediately after the festival, in late August, sixteen community activists, farmers, and women’s council representatives from nearby districts took part in a peer exchange tour. They visited sustainable agriculture projects and saw firsthand how collective decision-making and transparency can make a real difference in managing local environments. These exchanges not only built technical capacity but also strengthened regional collaboration among community leaders, reinforcing a sense of shared purpose across Central Asia.
The project continued to encourage small, sustainable ways for people to earn a living. In 2025, two new community businesses launched: a women-led beekeeping initiative and a bakery using natural yeast. Both of these activities connected environmental care with supporting the local economy – clear evidence that gradual steps can lead to significant change. At the same time, 22 rangers from the State Nature Reserve trained alongside national scientists to improve their skills in tracking waterfowl and plant diversity, providing a real boost to long-term conservation efforts.
None of this local action happened in isolation. It reflected a broader regional trend where communities, scientists, and local authorities worked together to link grassroots knowledge with national environmental policy. In September 2025, ISDS partnered with the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ecology and Technical Supervision of Kyrgyzstan and the Ramsar Secretariat to host the first regional workshop on wetland protection. Participants from across Central Asia gathered together. By the end, they had adopted the Issyk-Kul Resolution for 2025, outlining shared objectives through 2030: protecting wetlands, improving management of Ramsar sites, developing ecological corridors for migrating birds, and increasing community involvement in environmental decisions. This was honestly one of the year’s biggest achievements, showing that grassroots action and regional policy can complement each other.
Altogether, more than 44,000 people participated in education, campaigns, and events in 2025 – with about half being women and girls. The team created new resources, including 500 brochures and 500 booklets, plus two short videos explaining why wetlands matter and how communities can protect them. These videos circulated on social media and local TV. Still, the most important result wasn’t just the numbers. What was most striking was how bringing people together, involving them, and sharing knowledge really changed attitudes and care for nature.
There were also concrete results on the ground. Following advocacy from ISDS and its partners, authorities allocated funds to repair the road to Son-Kul, making travel safer for residents and tourists while reducing pressure on sensitive habitats. In one town, the new pasture management plan for 2026–2030 now includes a dedicated section on environmental protection and community monitoring. These developments show that when people collaborate, their hands-on experience can influence real policies and lasting improvements.
The formal three-year project concluded in 2025, but the skills, networks, and partnerships it created are still growing. Training given to educators, local officials, and women’s groups provides a solid foundation for future efforts – whether adapting to climate change, monitoring biodiversity, or helping people earn a living sustainably. For CAG and ISDS, 2025 was not the end. It marked a deeper, ongoing commitment to support communities in protecting their environment and ensuring the next generation can thrive alongside the landscapes they call home.
This story is the first in our 2025 series about CAG’s partnerships across Central Asia. The next post explores how El-Too expanded community-based environmental work through culture, sustainable tourism, and local innovation.