BISHKEK, Kyrgystan — If a picture is worth a thousand words, for Maria Kolesnikova, this year’s Champion of the Earth for Entrepreneurial Vision, a picture was worth starting a movement.

It was 2016 and Kolesnikova, a public relations professional, then aged 28, was volunteering for MoveGreen, a youth-led environmental organization in the Kyrgyz Republic.

There, someone showed Kolesnikova a picture of Bishkek, looking down from the mountains that surround the Kyrgyz capital. “Only you couldn’t see the city,” she said. “Bishkek was just covered in this blanket of grey. We didn’t know what to call it; what we knew was that it was really bad.”

Bishkek, home to roughly 1 million people is among the world’s cities with the worst air pollution. During winter months, it is often trapped under a dome of smog derived both from its natural environment – the city’s temperature is, on average, 5°C warmer than its surroundings – and smoke from the coal used to heat most homes.

“We wanted to understand more about what was in the air that we were breathing, and what data the city was collecting in order to try and make things better,” said Kolesnikova. “But we didn’t find any relevant, actual data – either it was not being collected or it was not being shared. So, we decided to produce data ourselves.”

MoveGreen started with just three sensors to measure air quality, namely, by monitoring for the first time in the Kyrgyz Republic, the levels of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) – produced by burning coal and other fuels, combustion, and dust. In high enough concentrations, it can cause inflammation of the lungs and other respiratory illnesses. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution causes up to 7 million deaths every year.

When the first measurements came back, Kolesnikova and the team at MoveGreen took a bold decision. Launching a campaign called “School Breathes Easily”, they took their message to a population that was ready to listen: Bishkek’s schoolchildren. Globally, 93 percent of children live in environments where air pollution levels are above WHO guidelines. Around 600,000 die prematurely each year because of air pollution, and exposure to dirty air can also impair cognitive and motor development and puts children at greater risk for chronic disease later in life.

In Bishkek, sensors were installed in schools to measure air quality so that classrooms could keep their windows closed when the air pollution was too much. Educators also used the data to warn parents about keeping their children from being exposed to the fine particulates. Today, there are over 100 sensors installed in the city and region.

The success of the school-based campaign encouraged Kolesnikova, who by this time had risen to become the Director of MoveGreen. It was not enough to collect the data; a movement was needed to convince decision-makers to improve Bishkek’s air quality.

MoveGreen developed an app, now available globally, called AQ.kg a real-time collector and transmitter of actionable data about air quality. The application aggregates data every 20 minutes from the two largest Kyrgyz cities, Bishkek and Osh, about the concentration of pollutants in the air, including the tiny particle PM2.5 and its larger cousin, PM10.

“Our data has been challenged, our methods have been challenged – by those who say that citizen monitoring data is unreliable,” said Kolesnikova. “But we kept having meetings and we kept going back and now, they listen. The result of our work has been connection with the government, to improve environmental monitoring in Bishkek, to do a better job of monitoring and reducing emissions.”

“Kolesnikova’s work reflects how individuals and citizens can drive environmental change by leveraging the power of science and data”, said Inger Andersen Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. “So often, people wonder if there’s anything they can do to combat pollution, climate change and the other threats to the planet. Maria Kolesnikova proves that there is. Her dedication is remarkable and shows that we can all play a role in putting the planet on the path to a better future.”

MoveGreen’s plans in coming months include calling for policies at the municipal and national level to develop bills that require regular public information sessions about the results of air quality measurements. The Kyrgyz Republic has committed to global targets to fight climate change, including an unconditional goal of reducing Green House Gas emissions by over 16 per cent by 2025.

There are immense opportunities for alternative energy sources; just 10 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s hydropower potential has been developed, and other renewable energy options could include boosting heating and electricity supply through wind, solar and biogas. There are immense opportunities for alternative energy sources; just 10 per cent of Kyrgyzstan’s hydropower potential has been developed, and other renewable energy options could include boosting heating and electricity supply through solar, wind, a biogas, a fuel often produced from agricultural waste.

According to Kolesnikova, if there was more investment in science in Kyrgyzstan, the country would be able to engineer its own solutions and create an eco-friendly society that exists in harmony with the nature around it, including her beloved mountains.

Because air pollution has no borders, Kolesnikova and MoveGreen are entering into regional arrangements with other Central Asian countries. Her goal is to convince the region’s six states to collaborate on ways to tackle air pollution in their growing cities. Putting in place systems and standards to assess air quality will be critical. A recent UNEP study found that only 57 countries continuously monitor air quality, while 104 have no monitoring infrastructure in place.

Kolesnikova says she’s driven by the desire to make the world a better place.

“So often, you can get demotivated as an activist – you work so hard, don't see results of your endeavors and, finally, you feel like you don’t want to keep going. But then you realize, no. Someone has to take responsibility for the future. Why shouldn’t it be me?”

The United Nations Environment Programme’s Champions of the Earth and the Young Champions of the Earth recognize individuals, groups and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. Presented annually, the Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honor. — UN News