My First Impressions
Upon my arrival to Bishkek, I felt very well and happy to be back in Kyrgyzstan. I had already spent around seven months in this country the year before as it was the destination of my exchange semester, so I am well-adjusted and comfortable with the local culture and rules. The first week I used to find a nice apartment, cure my jet lag and spent time with friends. A very surprising experience to me was, that with the help of a local friend we were able to find an apartment and move in within less than a day. I am now living in a comfortable but old apartment in a soviet block in the south of Bishkek. Me and my roommate, who I met on the flight to Bishkek chose this area because it is very lively and close to a big bazar, several nice restaurants and a lot of places to spend free time.
The organisation
On the 10th of April I had my first day at work. I was introduced to the team, the organisation and the projects and then quickly started to work on my first tasks. All members of the team seem very nice and close. Unfortunately, it is hard for me to communicate with some of them, as not everyone speaks English. Luckily the one 'responsible' for me being busy and well informed about the projects, Matt, is a very reliably and speaks native English.
Ilbirs Foundation is a Kyrgyz NGO that is concerned with different aspects of nature conservation and handles both nation and international projects. For example, they have projects to monitor and fight against illegal poaching and trading of illegal horns, skins, and so on. Furthermore, they work on educational projects at schools and communities to inform the locals about climate change, climate adaption, wildlife preservation, and much more.
My Work
To me the most interesting project, and also the one I’m mostly working on is CAMCA, an international Central Asian project by UNDP. Within this project the effects of climate change on large mammals and options to support the animal’s adaption should be studied. This is a large project that will take several years to finish. One of the current steps is to develop and test monitoring methods for Argali Sheep, Mid Asian Ibex, Tien Shan Elks, Brown Bears and Snow Leopards. This is what I do. Especially for the Tien Shan Elk the development of the method is somewhat more complicated and requires a lot of planning and creative thinking. I was positively surprised by how quickly and well I could start these very specific and important planning tasks. In the first week I was familiarized with the project and all external and internal specialists I could consult and ever since I'm making great progress. From initially not knowing what methods could be used I already arrived at specific planning of survey expeditions. In the following weeks I will join first expeditions for camera trapping and other survey types. Another project that I was helping with was the creation of flyers. Those are meant to promote Eco Truism activities in Kyrgyzstan. One time I was invited to join a trip to a mountain village where they would have conference with the local community to inform about climate change and their options to adapt to its effects. I'm happy to put many of the skills learned at ZHAW (understanding of ecology, wildlife management, GIS, designing...) to use in this work.
Example of the flyer designing
Two pictures from the community workshop about climate change and adaption in a mountain village