2009 Press Releases
SCIENCE MAGAZINE ASIA EDITOR RICHARD STONE IN DUSHANBE
Dushanbe, Tajikistan, October 27-28, 2009. Richard Stone, Asia Editor of Science magazine, spent Oct 27-28 in Dushanbe with Public Diplomacy. In addition to doing research for an article on water issues in the region, Richard had discussions about local environmental issues with journalism students at Slavonic University and USG alumni of various programs, including Muskie, Fulbright, FLEX, UGRAD, CI and Humphrey. He also met with working journalists and NGO leaders at a roundtable, and had separate meetings with government representatives. During the meetings Mr. Stone had an opportunity to learn from the participants about environmental issues in Tajikistan and how it is reported in the media. In turn, Richard shared his research experience on environmental issues in China, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and other parts of the world. Further, he discussed his interest to cover water sharing and other ecological issues in the Central Asian region. It was an excellent opportunity for local students, journalists, NGO leaders, scientists and alumni to share their experiences and thoughts on environmental issues in Tajikistan, and hear Richard’s opinion about the role that media can play in advocating for better environmental policies and raising public awareness on these issues. There were also discussions about potential cooperation, in order to bring to light to some of the ecological problems in Tajikistan through international media. These meetings were interesting and well received by both the editor and the participants of the meetings and roundtables.