Dr Mavluda Sattorova, Senior Lecturer at Liverpool Law Schoool with Dr Beatrice Penati, Lecturer in the Department of History are launching a new project to examine the historical underpinnings of local community engagement in land and underground resource exploitation in Central Asia. The project will involve collaboration with a group of historians, archivists, lawyers and NGO representatives working in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.
The project seeks to develop a novel, interdisciplinary and user-driven approach to investigating the local community engagement in governance of land and underground resources in the region. The overarching question the project intends to answer is: drawing on lessons from the history of land and underground resource ownership, how can a legal framework be redesigned to make a greater difference in citizens' lives and opportunities in Central Asia and foster more sustainable and inclusive investment practices? Supported by the University of Liverpool ODA funding, the project will kick-start with a two-day workshop in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (June 2018), to engage with a broad range of stakeholders and discuss contemporary issues and historical legacies shaping the existing investment, resource management and citizens’ engagement frameworks in Central Asia.