TY - JOUR A1 - Mehta, Kedar A1 - Ehrenwirth, Mathias A1 - Missall, Siegmund A1 - Degembaeva, Nadira A1 - Akmatov, Kuban A1 - Zörner, Wilfried T1 - Energy Profiling of a High-Altitude Kyrgyz Community: Challenges and Motivations to Preserve Floodplain Ecosystems Based on Household Survey JF - Sustainability N2 - The floodplain areas along the Naryn River in Kyrgyzstan are essential as they hold the riparian (local) ecosystems because they provide firewood, pastureland, and areas for recreation and protection against erosion. Due to limited access to adequate, reliable, and sustainable energy services, the rural population usually derived their energy needs from multiple natural energy resources (i.e., firewood, charcoal, agricultural residues, animal dung, and wood branches). This is considered a common and predominant practice in rural Kyrgyzstan. This situation leads to a negative impact on local ecosystem services. In addition to that, the reliance on solid fuels contributes to indoor and outdoor air pollution, which is partially threatening the local ecosystem services. By contrast, the employment of renewable-based energy supply systems would substantially reduce the burden on the environment, which is mainly untapped. To integrate renewable energies, it is important to understand the energy behavior of floodplain communities. In that response, the presented article is the first attempt to capture the energy identity of the floodplain community of Kyrgyzstan based on a quantitative energy-based (on-site) household survey. Furthermore, the present research article synthesizes the driving factors that have a (direct or indirect) impact on the energy and local ecosystem services. In addition, the present article proposes a brief pathway for the sustainable energy transition. The article records the recommendation to integrate renewable energies to preserve the local ecosystems of Kyrgyzstan. UR - https://doi.org/10.3390/su132313086 KW - Central Asia KW - ecosystem services KW - energy pattern KW - energy profiling KW - floodplain community KW - high-altitude KW - household survey KW - Kyrgyzstan KW - renewable energies KW - sustainability Y1 - 2021 UR - https://doi.org/10.3390/su132313086 UR - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:573-10895 SN - 2071-1050 N1 - This article belongs to the Special Issue "Floodplain Ecology and Sustainable Restoration with Regard to Ecosystem Services" VL - 13 IS - 23 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER -