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international

Central Asia is highly
vulnerable to the impact of
climate change, threatening

mountains, wildlife
populations, habitats, and

ecosystem services. Meet
Mr ysmail

dairov

Director of the Regional
Mountain Centre of Central

Asia (RMCCA)

His is a familiar face in the environmental department. When I was in this last post, I came
meetings and conferences. Upon first many times to Geneva, where I participated
encountering Mr Ysmail Dairov, one cannot but in the sessions of the UNECE’s committee on
be impressed by this tall, stately man, an eminent environmental policy. Thus, I’m well acquainted
environmentalist from Kyrgyzstan. Since the with the mechanisms and procedures of
early 1990s he has been working on protecting the international organizations. I was also
the mountains and the unique climate of Central involved in the preparatory process of the two
Asia. Devoted to his field, he is an expert with Ministerial Conferences in the framework of the
more than 200 articles to his credit. “Environment for Europe” process, in 1998 at
the Arhus, and in 2003 at the Kiev, participating
We had a chance to meet him at the Third as an expert from Kyrgyzstan and the Regional
high-level international conference on the Environmental Centre for Central Asia in the
international decade for action “water for conferences and making interventions.
sustainable development”, 2018-2028, in June
in Dushanbe, and we came away impressed. I also participated in the establishment of
the regional environmental centre of Central
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Asia. When the centre was organised, I was
I studied biology in Russia from 1982 to 1987, offered in 2001 the position of manager of
and after finishing my studies, I started my career environmental policy programs and all regional
working in a nature preserve in Kyrgyzstan for ones. So, I moved to Almaty in Kazakhstan,
two years. After that I moved to the central office where I was responsible for environment policy
of the Kyrgyzstan Environment Ministry. and cooperated closely with the environment
ministers of the five Central Asian countries.
As you might know, Kyrgyzstan is a
mountainous country. In the central office of In 2008, I returned to Bishkek when the ministry
the ministry where I worked for 12 years, I held invited me to take charge of the Central Asia
different positions, first as a specialist, then as regional mountain centre of the Interstate
the head of the biodiversity department and Commission of Sustainable Development (ICSD),
then the head of the international cooperation which is also the structure of the International

w w w. d i va i n t e r n at i o n a l . c h