Responsible tourism in Uzbekistan

Water can be in short supply in Uzbekistan, for several reasons. One is historic, with the transformation of agriculture from traditional farming to intensive cotton farming. This infamously dried up a vital water supply, Lake Aral, as a result of the diversion of the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya Rivers to irrigate the cotton fields. The land around this now dried up lake is also now salinised and unusable for farming. The recent farming of watermelons is not helping the water situation in this desert terrain either.

During the Soviet era, the five countries of the region shared their energy and water resources successfully, but the new borders and politics make this tricky. And a lack of basics like water and energy has, hardly surprisingly, led to local unrest in many areas. According to the World Bank research from 2016, only a quarter of households have access to a centralised sewerage system and, outside Tashkent, many houses depend on public water pumps for their drinking water. Tourism is growing in Uzbekistan, and so we must be careful that by providing tourists with all the water they need, or think they need, local people aren’t being deprived further.

What you can do
Use water sparingly. All common sense stuff really. Shower instead of bath and keep them short. Don’t leave the tap running when brushing teeth, and ask your hosts how best to preserve it for their own uses. Short of taking on the department of the environment, there is little else you can do at this time. On a more positive note, there are scientists who believe that the Aral Sea, or Lake, can be restored. Read the New Scientist for more details.

Be careful not just of your water consumption, but of generating plastic waste. Jonny Bealby, from our supplier Wild Frontiers, has tips on avoiding using plastic bottles: “If traveling in the summer – which is the only option if linking Uzbekistan with neighbouring Kyrgyzstan - you’ll be drinking a lot of water. Rather than using loads of plastic bottles take a self-filtering water bottle like LifeStraw or Water-to-Go.” Even though you are expected to cover up in this Islamic country, local women do enjoy wearing bright coloured dresses, with plenty of spangle. Same with harem-style pants, so don’t be afraid to pack your flower power summer gear. Or, even better, buy some when you are there. Remove your shoes when entering a mosque or holy site. Shoes are considered dirty and require that the area be washed. And when inside mosques, be careful not to step on any prayer mats. Homosexuality is illegal under Uzbek law and is frowned upon socially, so it is best to avoid public displays of affection. Prostitution is very common in Uzbekistan and tourists are frequently approached. In fact, Uzbekistan is on international watch lists for its shockingly bad record in child sex trafficking as well. Please report any suspect activities with regards to children to local authorities and, in particular, the tourism locations which are allowing it to happen. And if you doubt that anything will be done locally about the issue, contact The Code (short for “The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism”), an excellent point of contact for this purpose, as it works with tourism providers around the world to combat this horrific but very real side of tourism. As with anywhere in the world, be respectful when photographing people. Take your time to get to know people a little first and then always ask if they are happy for you to take their photo. Taking photographs of police, or around border checkpoints, other police controls, airports etc, is not recommended. It is also not allowed in metro stations in Tashkent, which is frustrating as they have stunning architecture.