Exploring the Environmental Crisis in Central Asia: A Qualitative Analysis of Climate Change Impacts

Abstract

The Central Asian waters are drying up. Previously, the fishing communities were interconnected at a distance over an inland region by the Aral Sea which is now rusted ships left behind in sand. The Caspian, the largest enclosed water body of the world, falls back on an annual basis. These are not just environmental statistics but precursors of a great crisis that is transforming whole societies. The current qualitative document analysis will focus on the ways in which the effects of climate change in Central Asia have been portrayed and perceived by academic literature as well as policy frameworks and media discourse between 2015 and 2024. A thematic analysis of 47 documents was conducted in a systematic manner and five thematic themes were revealed, including catastrophic water bodies degradation as both physical reality and ecological metaphor, agricultural vulnerability, which endangers the lives of millions who depend on the land, human displacement and health implications, which makes climate change visually real, persistent gaps between policy promises and implementation realities, and the complex and contentious terrain of adaptation activities. What the analysis shows is that it is a place between the ever-accelerating environmental change and the insufficiency of response institutions, i.e., an environmental, social, economic, and deeply human crisis. This research provides subtle insights into the ways that various knowledge communities create and articulate climate change and what this means on a more effective, fair, and cohesive response. Keywords: climate change, Central Asia, water resources, food security, environmental degradation, qualitative analysis, human dimensions, environmental crisis, sustainability.

Keywords: Climate Change, Central Asia, Water Resources, Food Security, Environmental Degradation, Qualitative Analysis, Human Dimensions, Environmental Crisis, Sustainability