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GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF TAJIKISTAN

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9

May

Cotton’s Retreat: Land Use Change

For much of the twentieth century, Tajikistan’s lowlands were white in summer. Cotton—pakhta, the “white gold” of Central Asia—dominated every horizon from the Vakhsh Valley to Sughd. Its geometry defined the land: square fields, irrigation canals, and windbreaks in perfect Soviet symmetry. But step into those same valleys today, and the pattern has changed. Wheat,
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17

Mar

Shrinking Wetlands in Sughd

The wetlands of Sughd are easy to miss. Seen from the road between Zafarobod and Istaravshan, they look like shimmering patches of reeds and shallow water, a blur of green against the gray-brown loess plains. But beneath that surface lies one of the most fragile geographies in northern Tajikistan: a network of seasonal lakes, backwaters,
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23

Feb

Mountain Weather: Unpredictability Mapped

Mountain weather in Tajikistan is an act of improvisation. Clouds form out of nowhere; snow falls on one slope while sunlight burns on another. The meteorologist’s map is less a forecast than a portrait of volatility. In a country where more than ninety percent of the territory is mountainous, weather is not background—it is the
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2

Jan

Avalanches and Climate Change

Each winter, as the high valleys of Tajikistan disappear under snow, the country holds its breath. In the Pamirs and the Alay ranges, avalanches descend without warning, cutting roads, sweeping away power lines, and, every few years, claiming lives. They are among the most dramatic expressions of mountain geography—sudden, unpredictable, and amplified by change. For
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11

Oct

The Vakhsh Valley: Agriculture and Risk

The Vakhsh Valley lies at the center of Tajikistan’s agricultural heartland—a long, sunlit corridor stretching south from the foothills near Danghara to the Afghan border. It is a place of abundance and unease. Here, the geography that makes farming possible also makes it precarious. Fertile alluvial soils spread across ancient river terraces; snowmelt from the
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10

Aug

Glacial Monitoring: Science on High Ice

At over 5,000 meters in elevation, the glaciers of Tajikistan look eternal. Their white surfaces crown the Pamirs and feed every major river that sustains life below. Yet to scientists who have spent decades measuring them, the ice no longer feels timeless—it feels fragile, restless, and receding. Glacial monitoring in Tajikistan is a story of
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5

Jul

Soils of the Zeravshan Valley

The Zeravshan Valley winds westward from the icy spurs of the Pamir-Alay toward the plains of Sughd, its river slicing through layers of loess, marl, and glacial debris. To most travelers it looks like a simple thread of green cutting through ochre hills, but beneath that surface lies one of Central Asia’s most intricate soil
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13

Jun

High Pastures: Yak Herding in the Pamirs

High above the treeline, where the air thins and the land turns to stone and grass, the geography of Tajikistan takes on a slower rhythm. This is the world of the jayloo—the summer pastures of the Pamirs—and of the yak herders who still follow ancient routes through valleys carved by ice and wind. To outsiders,
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5

Apr

Forest Restoration: Sapling Experiments

Across Tajikistan’s mountain slopes, where Soviet-era maps once painted dense green for juniper and walnut forests, the color has faded. What remains is a patchwork of scrub, stumps, and gullies. Yet in recent years, small rectangles of green have begun to return—sapling nurseries, fenced plots, and reforestation experiments that test how trees might reclaim the
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16

Nov

Changing Crops: Climate Shifts in Agriculture

In the irrigated plains and terraced valleys of Tajikistan, the geography of agriculture is rewriting itself. The rhythms of water, the timing of frost, and the length of the growing season—once steady anchors of rural life—are slipping out of alignment. Crops are shifting: wheat and barley are moving uphill; apricots and almonds bloom too early;
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