Breathless in Bishkek: the struggle for clean air in a city contested by geography, urban development and climate change

The Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek ranks among the largest cities in all of Central Asia. Located close to the country's border with Kazakhstan, it lies just off the northern fringe of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too Range. While contributing to a scenic panorama, these geographic factors also challenge the city's urbanistic ambitions.A largely fossil-based energy generation, a seemingly opaque urban sprawl and the challenges of a changing climate are thoroughly testing the city's limits. How does the challenging air quality affect citizens across geographic zones and income groups, and what can be done to ameliorate this?That's what we discussed with Maria Kolesnikova, director and co-founder of MoveGreen, an environmental NGO.---The Eurasian Climate Brief is a podcast dedicated to climate issues in the region stretching from Eastern Europe to Russia down to the Caucasus and Central Asia.---References cited in the episode:https://movegreen.kg/en/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09668136.2023.2185203https://www.buzzsprout.com/1878920/episodes/17798604-of-trolleybuses-and-mountains-struggling-for-clean-air-in-kyrgyzstan-and-community-empowerment-in-tajikistan---This episode is supported by n-ost, a media NGO and European Journalistic Network committed to cross-border and multi-prospective reporting, and made by:Boris Schneider, political economist. European Programme Manager at Clean Energy Wire CLEW (Berlin). Has worked as a specialist on Eastern European climate and energy topics, amongst others for n-ost and the German Economic Team.Angelina Davydova, environmental/climate journalist. Editor of the magazine Environment and Rights, co-host of the podcast The Day After Tomorrow (Posle Zavtra). Environmental projects coordinator with the Dialogue for Understanding e. V (Berlin). Fellow with the Institute for Global Reconstitution (Berlin). Observer of the UN climate negotiations (UNFCCC) since 2008. Expert/editor of the Ukraine War Environmental CUNFCCC) since 2008. Expert/editor of the Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Work Group.Jingle: Natallia KunitskayaSound editing & mixing: Angelo Tripkovsky