In the last four years, the media in Kyrgyzstan has witnessed the steady growth of publications dedicated to ecology. Moreover, if we look at the topics, the media is most interested in air pollution.
We have used the publications of news websites 24.kg and AKIpress as our data source because they have the largest archive of publications. The time length is from 2006 (this is the date of the earliest publication about ecology on 24.kg) through July 2021.
We searched the following key words in each group:
Only quantitative analysis was performed. As the search was automatic and no manual data processing was held, there was a certain degree of error in the results.
The media of Kyrgyzstan raise the ecology issue more often recently and the issue becomes more trending. However, this was not always the case. If we analyse materials since 2006, we will see two waves of interest in this topic – from 2010 to 2014 and from 2018 to date.
Both media outlets have published over 66 thousand materials about ecology during this time.
According to the leading specialist in adaptation to climate change, Vladimir Grebnyov, the peak of 2014 can be explained by a great number of projects initiated back then, which related to the air quality issues. There were also many events on adaptation to climate change and it was the period when the law on glaciers was initiated and caused lively discussion. Moreover, in 2014-2015, a few events were held to launch the EBRD project on waste management.
The second peak of 2018 fell on the year when the Swedish schoolgirl, Greta Thunberg, came out to protest to the parliament at Stockholm, and then she spoke at the plenary session of the UN Conference on Climate Change. The whole world spoke about her, and also about environmental protection and the forthcoming ecological disaster. Kyrgyzstan was not an exception.
In December 2019, a peaceful protest “Antismog” was held in Bishkek with participation of dozens of residents to show their discontent with the ecological situation.
See also: Photo Report: How Bishkek Turned into “Yshkek”
At that, if we analyse references to settlements in environmental publications, situations in Bishkek, Osh and Issyk-Kul have been reported more often.
If we take certain categories, half of all materials written from 2006 were about air pollution. Waste problem is on the second place, and climate change is on the third place.
Interest to air pollution and waste is quite explainable. Not only local media, but also many social media users have written about the shroud of dense smog over Bishkek, which can be seen from the bird’s eye view. The topic of trash dumps and landfill site in the capital is rather compelling and municipal authorities have been promising to solve it for many years.
As to the climate change, according to Vladimir Grebnyov, it is well supported by the global community and most of events relate to it. On the other hand, this topic is both unique and global, and it strongly affects the social and economic development and economy of the country.
“What we mean here is droughts, issues regarding water resource sufficiency for hydraulic power industry. And the most interesting moment, which many people must have noticed, is the increasing number of peak cold days in winter. In general, we cannot say that winter here has become colder, but we have more days with low, negative temperature,” the expert said.
Climate change is, among others, the increasing number of mudflows and flood water leading to economic losses, on the one hand, and death of people, on the other hand. Of course, it also draws attention, he added.
See also: Natural Disasters in Kyrgyzstan: It Only Gets Worse
Air pollution
The air pollution issue was the most relevant from 2010 to 2014, and then there was a decline in this issue. And the media began to write actively about it from 2018 until today. The number of materials published in the first half of 2021 has already exceeded the figures of 2020.
According to the head of MoveGreen ecological organisation, Maria Kolesnikova, it is so because first sensors measuring the level of PM2.5 in the air were installed in Bishkek at the end of 2017, and more data and opportunities have appeared.
“The smog problem has been rather apparent in recent years. In other words, it is not enough to provide data, but this problem must be solved otherwise. When high-rise buildings emerged, when this stratum could be photographed, when drones appeared, when the equipment got better, it was easier to communicate the problem. Until 2018, the country had had nothing of the kind,” Kolesnikova said.
According to her, the same organisation launched the awareness-raising campaign to get the people excited, and only after that state bodies showed interest in this topic. Afterwards, the media and citizens began to pay attention to the issue and demand changes.
“I relate it directly to the fact that ecological organisations speak about it, first. Secondly, they speak in plain language, hold comprehensive and interesting events and researches, including for the media,” Kolesnikova said.
See also: Air Pollution: What Do You Know about Causes and Consequences?
Waste
The waste issue is the second popular topic. Chair of the Board of Eco Demi Venera Mambetmusaeva relates it to the fact that non-governmental organisations and activists promote this topic, hold numerous campaigns and events. Moreover, the media pay much attention to the landfill site in Bishkek, which has been promised to be closed and reclaimed for many years.
The growing interest in waste issue from the media began in 2010. Back then, the Agency for Urban Development was created in Bishkek, it was responsible for implementation of city development projects, including the ones relating to waste management.
One year later, the municipal authorities spoke about reclamation of Bishkek sanitary landfill, construction of a waste recycling plant, and began to draft the project. In 2013, they signed a loan agreement, ratified it in 2015, and the EBRD and European Union allocated 22 million euros as a grant and a loan.
Back then, the city authorities promised that in 2017 Bishkek would have a garbage recycling plant, and the landfill would be closed and reclaimed. However, none of these happened neither in 2017, nor now. And the media interest in this topic declined gradually.
Climate change
The media of Kyrgyzstan reported much on climate change in 2014, when the sustainability development goals were being developed, and much attention was paid to the environmental agenda, Vladimir Grebnyov said. According to him, climate change was one of the blocks, which was worked over and attempted for implementation.
The interest in climate change may be related to the external fundraising. Moreover, a national report on the environmental condition was published in 2014.
“At that time, it was actively promoted. It was likely to have a certain impact on the coverage of environmental issues. It was a systemic document and it was clear for most media and it was quoted everywhere,” Grebnyov said.
Radioactive waste
Radioactive wastes in Kyrgyzstan were actively reported in 2019, when development of Kyzyl Ompul group of uranium fields located in Ton district of Issyk-Kul region became known.
In spring 2019, a few protest actions were held at Issyk-Kul, followed by a large-scale protest in Bishkek.
Landscape gardening
Two major peaks occurred in publications about landscape gardening – in 2014 and 2018-19.
According to Dmitry Pereyaslavsky, coordinator of educational and research works of “Initiative Archa”, this increase in the number of media materials is usually related to some large-scale negative events, or big projects and related grants.
For example, in 2016 Kyrgyzstan received a grant from China for road maintenance in Bishkek, and in 2017 trees were cut on the roadside to expand roads in the capital. People took to streets to protest, human rights defenders filed suits and claimed numerous violations. The number of publications about landscape gardening increased in the same year and continued in 2018.
Glaciers and Kumtor
The media write little about soil degradation and glaciers. The latter is usually referred to amid the wave of scandals with Kumtor gold mine.
If we analyse the dynamics of publications mentioning Kumtor and glacier, we’ll see the correlation. When there was the growth in interest in the mine, the media wrote more about glaciers.
No wow effect
We can hardly speak about systematic nature of media reports dedicated to ecology. The stable growth of publications can be observed only in relation to air pollution. In the rest of categories, there are ups and downs related to high-profile events, activities or treaties.
“In our case, positive newsworthy events are not as contagious as negative ones. When trees were cut on a roadside, the media wrote many articles in some sequence. First, they report the fact. Second, they write what the municipal service says about it. And third, they write what residents say about it. This is how it works. If it is something positive, for example, about a park opening, there is no other information available,” Dmitry Pereyaslavsky said.
The amount of information about a given topic is relevant as well. If we have information about air pollution and waste, and see the scope of the problem, it’s not that simple with the landscape gardening or glaciers. There are no available data or we have few data. However, data is not always the case.
If we take the air pollution topic, according to Vladimir Grebnyov, the air quality data in Bishkek have always been published as part of the national report of the state of environment.
“But the question is that media do not find such data interesting. Or the national document was not that interesting to the media. When NGOs began to report this data, they did it in an alarming way, and of course everyone started to take it differently,” Grebnyov said.
According to him, although the ecology topic is well known to the journalistic society, it is not as interesting as some scandals because it does not create the wow effect. Nevertheless, he noted that the number and the quality of materials about environment has improved in the last ten years.
“In the past, they wrote some populist things, and now the media analyse the situation and raise very critical questions. This is very important. I notice that the level of journalists has improved in the last few years and the quality of information and data handling has improved, too,” the expert said.