Citizens’ rights and the exploitation of underground resources in Central Asia
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.