Tajikistan Environment Profile 2012

Tajikistan suffers from the impact of climate change. A shortage of precipitation produces less water. In the long run, the melting of glaciers will aggravate the situation and lead to the drying-up of Tajikistan’s powerful rivers. In the 2007/08 winter, the reservoir in Nurek saw a dramatic drop in its water levels, and, in February 2008, the water reached the dead-zone level (i.e., the critical level that maintains a sufficient head to run the turbines). It is too early to say whether declining water levels is a temporary phenomenon or a permanent downward trend. A lack of heating forces the population to use wood and grass, which contributes to deforestation.

Environmental damage caused by TadAZ’s outdated technology and equipment contributes negatively to these effects and causes neighboring Uzbekistan, whose population suffers from the adverse health effects, to put pressure on the Tajik leadership to rectify the situation. Another environmental concern relates to the uranium mines in the north of the country, which were developed to meet the needs of the Soviet defense industry in the 1960s and abandoned thereafter. An environmental policy framework exists and is followed to a certain extent in terms of water management, but it is ignored in aluminum production.