Central Asia: environmental groups and scientists call on international financial institutions to preserve key freshwater bodies and stop supporting destructive hydropower projects

On the International Day of Action for Rivers, the organisations stress that the rapid development of hydropower projects in the region threatens to fragment its unique river basins, disrupt critical natural habitats and lead to human rights abuses. Despite existing safeguards for UNESCO World Heritage sites and other protected areas, increasing international finance for large- and small-scale hydropower plants could severely damage the region’s rivers.

If all planned hydropower projects are implemented, the vast river basins of Central Asia will hardly retain any unfragmented natural river habitat.  

In December 2024, the World Bank and AIIB approved financing for the Rogun mega-dam project in Tajikistan – dubbed the ‘largest dam in the world’ – which would displace 60,000 people and affect the unique floodplain ecosystems of the Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Kyrgyzstan recently declared an ‘energy emergency’ to enable the construction of hydropower projects throughout the country, including within the Western Tien–Shan World Heritage Site. 

In 2025, a renewables auction scheme in Kazakhstan supported by the EBRD will be misused to support 500 MW of new hydropower projects. While the EBRD, ADB and IFC are supporting a strategic environmental and social assessment of renewable projects in Uzbekistan, a presidential decree plans for 21 new large hydropower plants. And state-owned company UzbekHydroEnergo has identified 250 prospective sites for small hydropower plants under public-private partnerships in a country with 85 per cent desert or semi-desert.  

A map of key freshwater bodies of Central Asia published this month highlights the most threatened rivers. They were identified during more than two years of research involving some of the region’s top biodiversity and hydrology experts. 

With more than 300 existing sizeable dams in the region and more than 200 new ones planned or under construction, there is an urgent need to protect the key rivers left untouched during the Soviet era. 

Andrey Ralev, Biodiversity Campaigner at CEE Bankwatch Network – ‘While the middle and lower stretches of Central Asia’s Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers are seriously disrupted, leading to the Aral Sea crisis, their mountain tributaries still hold unique biodiversity. Development banks should endorse their protection, rather than financing destructive hydropower plants’, says Andrey Ralev, Biodiversity Campaigner at CEE Bankwatch.  

Evgeny Simonov, international coordinator of the environmental coalition Rivers without Boundaries – ‘Often in Central Asia, the construction of dams and reservoirs is presented as inevitable, a kind of forced measure to preserve water resources. However, global experience tells us that such an approach is extremely ineffective from an economic point of view and often has the most destructive consequences from an environmental point of view.’

Katharine Lu, senior manager at Friends of the Earth US – ‘Our research indicates an immense toll on riparian communities and ecosystems amidst the climate and biodiversity crisis. International banks therefore need to step away from blindly supporting hydropower build out and consider lower impact, decentralized energy options.’

Contacts:

Andrey Ralev, Biodiversity Campaigner | CEE Bankwatch Network
andrey.ralev@bankwatch.org

Eugene Simonov
International Coordinator |  Rivers Without Boundaries
simonov@riverswithoutboundaries.org

Katharine Lu
Senior Manager | Friends of the Earth US

Tanya L. Roberts-Davis
Senior Energy Campaign Manager (SEA Program) | International Rivers

Dustin Schaefer
Team Lead – Multilateral Financial Institutions | Urgewald e.V.

Notes for editors

More information about the need to protect Central Asian rivers: https://bankwatch.org/project/central-asian-rivers 

The map of key freshwater bodies in Central Asia can be found at: https://arcg.is/0fDfGP0

Rivers without Boundaries and CEE Bankwatch Network have also published a toolkit for activists entitled How to interact with development banks lending to hydropower projects in Central Asia.  This toolkit provides local NGOs and community leaders with detailed instructions and real-life examples on how to use accountability mechanisms of international finance institutions to defend their environmental rights and develop meaningful dialogue on infrastructure projects being considered for financing. The toolkit can be found in English or Russian.

Environmentalists hope that the GIS model they have developed – while not a substitute for individual biodiversity assessments – will be in demand not only by specialists, but will also be used by potential investors to select projects with the least impact on the environment.’