Youth Environmental Initiatives and Education Programs in Advancing Local Climate Action in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan faces some of Central Asia's most severe climate vulnerabilities, yet the contribution of its rapidly expanding youth environmental sector to local climate action remains underexplored in the academic literature. This paper examines how youth environmental initiatives and education programs contribute to advancing local climate action in Uzbekistan, and the extent to which the country's existing climate policy framework — including the Third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0, 2025) and the Green Economy Strategy (2019–2030) — enables or constrains that contribution. Drawing on a qualitative literature review that synthesizes national policy documents, international organization reports, and peer-reviewed academic sources, the paper maps Uzbekistan's youth climate ecosystem and evaluates it against formal policy commitments. The analysis finds that youth initiatives and education programs are substantive and growing, supported by strong alignment between government priorities and international organization programming, but that youth influence on policy design remains limited. The paper concludes that Uzbekistan represents an important case for understanding how youth climate engagement develops under conditions of managed democratization.