Text: Dana Oparina Photography: Dana Opraina, Farkhod Aminjonov
The expedition crew left Osh, crossed the Taldyk Pass at an altitude of 3,615 meters and reached Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region. This is the place where the expedition crossed Kyrgyz-Tajik border and found the Karakul Lake. It’s the largest lake in Tajikistan. Energy security expert Farkhod Aminjonov takes part in the expedition. Farkhod is vigorous and funny guy.
– Farkhod, you are from Uzbekistan…
– I identify myself as a Central-Asian. When people ask me where I am from, I always say that I am from Central Asia. Though I was born in Ivanovo, Russia, grew up in Uzbekistan, my ethnic origin is Tajik, I live and work in Kazakhstan, graduated from OSCE Academy in Kyrgyzstan, and currently address the energy issues of the region, including Turkmenistan.
– How did you come to energy security?
– I became interested in this issue in OSCE Academy, when in 2008-2009 I was pursuing a master’s degree in politics and security in Central Asia. An Energy security expert visited our institution. He started to deliver lectures on energy security and energy policy, and I found a great interest in it. Then I delved into this subject, undertook an internship in Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, wrote a thesis comparing transit gas potential of Russia and Ukraine. In the University of Tsukuba, Japan, I have gained one more master’s degree, where I had studied a concept of energy security from the perspective of exporting countries. Thereafter, I entered 4-year Doctoral programme in Canada, my research topic was Regional and innovative mechanisms of energy sector management.
– What are your duties in the expedition?
– I supervise the group conducting research on “Water and energy regime of HPP in Central Asia”. Members of our group are Zafar Ruziyev from Tajikistan, Jahоngir from Uzbekistan and Ahmad Said from Afghanistan who joined us in Dushanbe. We will consider the development of energy potential under water regime with Jahоngir, under energy regime – with Zafar. Energy regime means that electrical power generation is of the first priority for the facility, water regime means that irrigation takes priority.
– Does each member work on his topic?
– Yes, they do. I direct them as a supervisor. We think over the research issue, they collect data, if necessary I help them, explain how it looks in a broader context. Guys cooperate with each other, Zafar explores the subject in one respect, Jahоngir in the other. The way I see it: even if there will be two different research papers, in our recommendations we could summarize the topics, and find their points of intersection, the solutions that may be proposed to the problem.
Reference
Organizers of the expedition:
- Kazakhstan-German University (GKU)
- The Smart Waters project, executed by the Regional Environmental Center of Central Asia (CAREC) with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
- Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
- International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS)
From Glaciers to the Aral Sea 