Аңдатпа
Rural development across the Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) is predominantly shaped by top-down decision-making in which powerful state bodies take centre stage. While their directives in agriculture and livestock production are informed by upgrade-inspired growth thinking, the social-environmental complexities inherent to agro-ecosystems receive less attention. The present special issue of the Central Asian Journal of Sustainability and Climate Research (CAJSCR), based on the stakeholder workshop organized by Germany’s Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE) and held at the German-Kazakh University (DKU) in Almaty in the fall 2024, explores different approaches to participatory stakeholder involvement in sustainable rural development. The compilation canvasses the corresponding methodologies, including their strengths and weaknesses, novel to the Central Asian Region (CAR).The articles of the special issue argue that the participatory engagement of smallholder farmers, students, pastoralists, and ordinary citizens in systemic thinking and participatory mapping processes augments their agency in decision-making and opens up fresh and so far untapped prospects for local development in the CAR, which provides a new angle of engagement not only for local-level state executive entities, but likewise for CSOs, international cooperation and applied research actors.