ABSTRACT
Central Asia 1 is an area of the planet poorly known beyond its own borders. Yet, Central Asia’s contribution to the resolution of many global environmental problems will be critical in coming years, even as the region continues to venture to overcome the local environmental problems it inherited from the Soviet Union. In both endeavors, Central Asia’s struggle is to embrace sustainable development. Central Asia as a whole, belying the optimism of reports (particularly previous to 1998) issued locally, by scholars, and by development organizations, 2 is in fact moving annually farther from embodying sustainable development.
