Over the last 60 years, we have recognized increasingly that our world is connected, and the impacts of environmental catastrophes and economic crises in one region of our world have far-reaching and long-lasting consequences globally. Central Asia is a developing region with great potential, but there are valid concerns that current resource management practices are not sustainable, particularly with regard to the management of water resources. Recent changes in social structures, accompanied by regional climate change, have caused substantial environmental changes leading to security concerns in the region. As a result, the local economy has been significantly impacted to the extent that the potential for social unrest is of great concern. This book explores new technologies and adaptation strategies to mitigate these environmental problems and cope with continued environmental change with the ultimate goal of promoting sustainable growth and improved quality of life in the region.

Environmental conditions do not exist in a vacuum. They are influenced by science, politics, history, public policy, culture, economics, public attitudes, and competing priorities, as well as past human decisions. In the case of Central Asia, such Soviet-era decisions include irrigation systems and physical infrastructure that are now crumbling, mine tailings that leach pollutants into soil and groundwater, and abandoned factories that are physically decrepit and contaminated with toxic chemicals. Environmental Crises in Central Asia highlights major environmental challenges confronting the region’s former Soviet republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. They include threats to the Caspian and Aral seas, the impact of climate change on glaciers, desertification, deforestation, destruction of habitat and biodiversity, radioactive and hazardous wastes, water quality and supply, energy exploration and development, pesticides and food security, and environmental health. The ramifications of these challenges cross national borders and may affect economic, political, and cultural relationships on a vast geographic scale. At the same time, the region’s five governments have demonstrated little resolve to address these complex challenges. This book is a valuable multi-disciplinary resource for academics, scholars, and policymakers in environmental sciences, geography, political science, natural resources, mass communications, public health, and economics.

The global attention that has focused on the energy resources of Central Asia has tended to obscure the real security issues affecting this vital region. According to this analysis, the eight new states to the east and west of the Caspian Sea face major challenges as fledgling sovereignties seeking to carve new national identities and sustain their legitimacy as they shed their legacy as former Soviet states. The involvement of diverse nations in the exploitation and export of Caspian oil offers the best hope of stability in the region, although the fear that a single external power might gain monopolistic control over these coveted resources is an issue of major concern. Any economic or social breakdown in the region is likely to create a dangerous power vacuum, since the states are surrounded by three current nuclear powers and another aspiring nuclear power. These Central Asian states share several characteristics with the Gulf states and like them are exploring avenues for intra-regional cooperation and integration. The Gulf states are therefore poised to play a unique role in the development of the strategic Central Asian region with which its destinies have historically been linked.

Aral Sea crisis in Central Asia is one of the most catastrophic but anthropogenic environmental, economic and human disasters. The crisis developed due to the desiccation of Aral Sea, triggering ecological disaster as the water acquired high level of hazardous chemicals, pesticides and microbial contaminants. The depletion of water and related environmental damage affects the whole region's sustainable development, human wellbeing, security and survival. This paper argues that the human insecurities have disproportionate impact on women owing to the persistence of patriarchal exploitative social order and structural inequality inherent in the Central Asian societies. The loss of egalitarian approach towards women's issues in the Soviet era, the revival of traditional gender stereotypes, economic deprivation, limited access to decision-making process and inadequate attention paid to gender issues in the neoliberal development priorities of states in the region make women further vulnerable. Hence, exploring the complexities of environment, human security and gender concerns are relevant.

This volume is the first comprehensive scholarly analysis of the strategic reconfiguration of Central Asia as Russia has become more disengaged from the nations in the region and as these nations have developed new relations to the south, east, and west. The international implications are enormous because of the rich energy sources—oil and natural gas—located in the Caspian Sea area. The authors assess a variety of internal security policy challenges confronting these states—for example, the potential for conflict arising from such factors as a mixed ethnic population, resource scarcity, particularly in relation to water management, and an Islamic revival. They also examine the security policy content of relations between the Central Asian states and regional and international powers—specifically the stakes, interests, and policies of Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, and the United States. These internal challenges and the evolution of relations with external powers may result in new cooperative relationships, but they may also lead to destabilizing rivalry and interstate enmity in Central Asia. It is important to identify new patterns of relevance for future security cooperation in the region, but the potential for a new security system or for new institutions to manage security in the region remains uncertain. These issues are explored by a team of prominent specialists from Western Europe, the United States, Russia and China.