Anyone who’s ever been to Kyrgyzstan—or read anything about Kyrgyzstan, for that matter—is aware of the country’s beautiful nature. Rolling green meadows, alpine lakes, glaciers, and most famously, snowcapped mountains, lend it the appropriate nickname as The Land at the Foot of the Sun (according to at least one souvenir-shop brochure).

Since our arrival in Kyrgyzstan ten months ago, we’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with a number of organizations. One of those is CAMP Alatoo, a non-profit and non-governmental organization with the goal of improving people’s livelihoods in the mountain regions of Central Asia by encouraging a more sustainable use of natural resources. We were curious to learn what Kyrgyzstan is doing to protect and conserve the environment, and we offered to make an informational video about what CAMP Alatoo is and what they do. Long story short, one video turned into seven videos and a cross-Kyrgyzstan adventure tour that’s beyond anything we could have ever expected!

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The CAMP Alatoo Team

CAMP Alatoo has five main activity areas: sustainable pasture management, climate change adaptation, energy efficiency, conflict management over natural resources, and construction of mountain bridges.

We travelled all across Kyrgyzstan with each of the different project teams and saw diverse natural environments, from the famous walnut forests in Arslanbob to rural villages in Naryn that can’t be found on a map. We also met diverse people, among them craftsmen, teachers, housewives, shepherds, and forestry officials. And depending on the location, it was common to hear Russian, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, and sometimes even Tajik all in one day. Filming has been a great way for us to learn more about Kyrgyzstan, and we’re happy that our videos can help CAMP Alatoo share their objectives and accomplishments with a wider audience.

CAMP Alatoo celebrated their 10-year jubilee in November 2015. We made the video embedded below to share CAMP Alatoo’s accomplishments over the past decade and how they became a leading NGO in integrated natural resource management in Central Asia.

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