Tuesday 8 July, 16:00, room 407.
Schongauerstraße 9, Leipzig
Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL), Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde
Visiting Fellows Programme – 2025
The CoMoDe project, ‘Contentious Mobilities: Rethinking Mobility Transitions through a Decolonial Lens (CoMoDe)”
The IfL Visiting Fellowship Programme, ‘Mobility Transition in Central Asia: Sustainability, Power and International Financial Institutions (IFIs)’, will focus on the case of Bishkek’s wasted trolleybus system, which was once the most sustainable form of transport in the city. In recent years, public concern has grown over rising levels of air pollution in Bishkek. According to IQAir, an air quality information platform, Bishkek often ranks among the world’s most polluted cities. In an attempt to address this issue, Bishkek City Hall, in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), intends to purchase 120 electric buses to replace the trolleybuses that were financed by a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
However, after a year of negotiations with Bishkek City Hall, public protests, court cases, and meetings with the EBRD and ADB — who play an important role in the policy dialogue and planning of green transport in Bishkek — there has been no outcome. The two banks have invested heavily in public transport and mobility projects in Bishkek and Kyrgyzstan — over 70 million dollars for electric transport development — yet the city currently has no electric vehicles.
The workshop will initiate a strategic conversation between sustainability, IFIs, and Central Asia. Together, we will identify opportunities to promote sustainable transport projects and consider the methodology for doing so. The results of the workshop will be compiled into practical guidelines on how to protect our environmental rights and combine scientific knowledge with advocacy.
More information here: https://bishkeksmog.info/2025/06/05/ifl/
You can join online as well: https://zoom.us/j/94407161514?pwd=6ogLYj6L7fN31WDvAjbeMbf8h4Mqhm.1
Bermet Borubaeva / Researcher, Public Policy Analyst, Visiting Fellow at IfL.
Profile: Born in Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek. Bermet Borubaeva is an independent researcher and public policy analyst and co-founder of #BishkekSmog a documentary film #BishkekSmog.