Reaching tipping point? Climate change and poverty in Tajikistan

This document addresses climate change and its impacts in Tajikistan, and the challenges in terms of funding and lack of capacity to cope with such a potentially overwhelming phenomenon. It draws attention to the plight of poor communities in Tajikistan, addressing disaster risk reduction, agriculture, food security and water issues, and also highlights Oxfam’s demands for a climate change deal that is both fair and safe – that agrees both the drastic cuts that are necessary in greenhouse gas emissions and the new funds that developing countries like Tajikistan need to adapt.

The report is based on interviews undertaken in communities in Spitamen and Ganchi in the north and Vose, Fakhor and Temurmalik in the south in October 2009. It gives an insight into how poor men and women are experiencing climate change, what challenges they are currently facing – and will continue to face in the future. It makes suggestions for what they say needs to happen to help them cope better with climate change.