In a 45 minute documentary, narrated by David Attenborough, Earth report (which ran for many years on the BBC), explores Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan, and the dramatic changes that followed in the area after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent civil war.
The economic crash was particularly severe in a province that had largely been dependent on Soviet largess shipped in from elsewhere. Food security was 15 percent. All diesel fuel was heavily subsidized. When food and fuel subsidies ended, the people of Gorno-Badakhshan suffered greatly. But with the help of the agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network, food security rose to over 70 percent in 10 years, a Soviet-era hydroelectric plant was refurbished and expanded. Other social programmes in health and education followed, including the founding of the University of Central Asia campus in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan.
Source: BBC Earth Report – Where the families and mountains meet | Aga Khan Development Network
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