Whether it is more efficient smoke-free stoves in northern Pakistan, a hydroelectric plant in Uganda, cooling the buildings of the Aga Khan University in Karachi or installing a solar array at an Aga Khan Health Services-managed hospital in Afghanistan, good stewardship of the environment has always been one of the underlying ethics driving the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN)’s work. Now, as AKDN redoubles its efforts to meet the climate change crisis, it is important to reflect on the decisions that have affected – and continue to affect – the environment. Amir Jivraj has been intimately involved with many of these projects along the way.

When Talaibek Osmonov and his wife, Elza, completed the University of Central Asia School of Professional and Continuing Education’s Entrepreneurship programme in Naryn in 2016-2017, they planned to build a yurt business and promote tourism in their hometown – the Alysh village of Naryn.