By Gulnura Toralieva
Environmental journalism in Kyrgystan is being held back by a lack of knowledge amongst the writers themselves, according to a leading Kyrgyz environmentalist.
Indira Zhakipova, co-ordinator of EKOIS (the Kyrgyz network of environmental non-governmental organisations and experts), described local journalists’ knowledge as ‘primitive’ and said that they were failing to build contacts with experts in the field. She added that a lack both of analysis and regular coverage of environmental issues had led to reporting that was both ‘boring’ and poorly informed.
Kyrgyzstan's Issyk Kul lake
Lack of funding is another problem. “Everyone knows about climate change now because people spent a lot of money publicising it, and international donors started to support projects. In Kyrgyzstan we have already had three seminars,” says Zhakipova. But this means international donors are setting the agenda on what should be covered by the press.
There is also a perception that social and political issues are more important. “Writers tend to prejudge what is news. A factory closing, a corruption scandal is news – while we just get used to living with the catastrophe that is our environment, but that has to change,” says Zhakipova. Intriguingly, such change could come by default. The physical danger for journalists writing about social and political issues in Kyrgystan may prompt them to focus more on writing about the environment.
And fashions change too. “I’m sure that environmental reporting will be more popular amongst journalists because it becomes more fashionable to write about. It will be also funded by donors and it is in fact safe to report on,” she said. The impetus is there from non-governmental organisations in Kyrgyzstan. They are putting an enormous amount of energy into attracting journalists’ attention towards environmental issues, but the results are often frustrating. And as Zhakipova points out, there’s no shortage of material for writers to tackle.
“First of all we should start to get people’s attention to sanitation. When I visited our provinces I was amazed how poor sanitary conditions were for people living there. I got the impression that time stopped somewhere in the 1980s, was everything so decrepit there. The main problem is lack of water”, added Zhakipova. Water, though, is just the start.
The pollution of Issyk Kul, a lake which the government plans to exploit for tourism; despoliation by the gold mining industry; climate change; toxic waste; land degradation. These are just a few items on a long list, claims Zhakipova. “The government totally ignores environmental problems, it is too busy with social and political issues, so it has no time or manpower for dealing with the environment.”