Ecology and Public Opinion emerged In Pavlodar, Kazakhstan as Central Asia's first grassroots environmental NGO in 1987. By 1990, 30% of Central Asia's several hundred grassroots NGOs pursued environmental missions. In 1991, this environmental community was electing representatives to local legislatures, suing Alma-Ata's mayor in the USSR Supreme Court, arresting armed poachers in Turkmenistan, and lobbying successfully to create the planet's largest national park in Tajikistan.

Late Perestroika's NGOs were more effective, daring, and influential than today's. Reacting to the environmental movement's decline, despite and largely due to various foreign development programs, local NGOs created the Law and Environment Eurasia Partnership (LEEP) in 1994 to preserve the values of democracy, rule of law, and science. Unique in Central Asia, LEEP possesses U.S. 501(c)(3) public charity status, but is governed by a local Board that includes activists from every republic.

LEEP's offices located in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, USA and staff working in every republic are not subordinate to Americans, instead all answer to their local Board. In a similar violation of development community norms, 97% (not 50%!) of LEEP’s budget goes to projects, not overhead, and the volunteer American staff based at Yale Law School speak local languages. Local staff members are composed of scientists and lawyers and this staff also regularly turns its salary back over to LEEP.

With a budget lower than the salary of a single foreign aid worker, LEEP and its staff of 15 issue two free periodicals, Ecostan News and Central Asia Compliance Monitor. LEEP also helps citizens bring court cases to protect their environment rights, authors influential analytical reports on the environment and development, assists governments to understand international environmental law, publishes the most comprehensive Russian-language book on international environmental law, and partners with local NGOs on environmental advocacy projects. LEEP depends on private donations and encourages readers to visit our website at www.ecostan.org   to learn more about our programs.

Eric Sievers, LEEP