A bold reimagining of climate education, Turn It Around!is an expanding toolkit of cards designed by youth to challenge the status quo. Through original art and text, young people express their concerns, hopes, and demands for climate-focused education reform.
The Central Asia Turn-it-Around (TIA) Climate-Card Deck is a project by CAPS Unlock and the Central Asian Alliance for Climate Education (TsAKO) in partnership with the UNESCO Regional Office (Almaty) and Arizona State University (USA). The project will produce a culturally unique and regionally distinct set of cards developed by youth in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan over the 2024–2025 school year, focusing on education for climate change and human security.
The Central Asia Turn-it-Around (TIA) Climate-Card Deck will serve as both a teaching resource and a policy tool. It will shape a policy brief advocating for compulsory climate education across the region, reinforcing the role of young people as agents of change, not just passive learners.
Time to turn it around—before it’s too late.
Climate Facts
The Earth is warming faster than expected.The Paris Agreement (2015) committed nations to keep the rise in global average temperature well below 2°C, and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C – a threshold many assumed would not be reached until mid-century. The IPCC (2018) warned that exceeding 1.5°C, even temporarily, would sharply increase the risk of irreversible climate tipping points unless global emissions were cut almost in half by 2030 and brought to net zero around mid-century. Yet the World Meteorological Organisation confirmed that in 2024 the planet’s average temperature already exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. This accelerates the risk of irreversible climate tipping points and shrinks the time left to act.
Water shortages will intensify. At 1.5 °C of global warming, approximately 350 million urban residents are projected to face water scarcity due to severe droughts. At 2 °C, that number rises to around 410 million – showing how even half a degree of additional warming can dramatically worsen water stress (WWF, Feeling the Heat).
Droughts and floods in Central Asia could inflict annual economic losses of up to 1.3 % of GDP, and crop yields may decline by 30 % by 2050 – potentially triggering as many as 5.1 million internal climate migrants – without purposeful leadership and adaptation.
Economic losses of up to 1.3 % of GDP annually are projected for the region, primarily from droughts and floods, if adaptation measures are not taken (UNDP, 2024).
Crop yields could fall by 30 % by 2050, displacing an estimated 5.1 million people within their own countries due to climate pressures (Atlantic Council, 2023).
Central Asia will likely experience severe warming. By 2100, average regional temperatures are projected to rise by 2–6 °C under high-emission scenarios, with all countries in the region – Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan – warming faster than the global average. At the lower end (2–3 °C), outcomes reflect stronger global mitigation, at the upper end (5–6 °C), current trajectories will bring drastic increases in drought, heatwaves, disrupted rainfall, and worsening aridity. The IPCC and the World Bank both confirm that Central Asia is warming above the global mean, driving high risks for water, agriculture, and health.
Glaciers in Central Asia are retreating rapidly, intensifying risks for water, agriculture, hydropower and ecosystems. The IPCC (2022) reports with very high confidence that glaciers in the Pamir and Tien Shan ranges are losing mass due to rising temperatures and fewer cold spells. The Tien Shan glaciers have already lost about 27 % of their ice since 1961, and studies suggest that as much as half could disappear by 2050 (MDPI, 2022).
For Teachers
What strategies or ideas would you propose for incorporating climate cards into your lesson?
For educators and facilitators, this is a collection of curriculum ideas created by teachers on how to effectively use the Turn it Around! flashcards in the classroom. It can feature lesson plans tailored for early years, primary, secondary, and higher education settings.
Lesson Plan Examples
You can find lesson plan examples here, or download directly below.
Call for Submissions: Central Asian Climate Card Deck
From November 1, 2024, to February 28, 2025, the “Turn It Around: Central Asian Climate Card Deck” project held an open call for submissions to create a deck of 60 climate-themed cards. The initiative engaged children and young people from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
Submission Results: 1,040 visual artworks 262 written pieces 163 mixed-media works
Final Selection
You can find the authors included in the Final TIA Collection below.
List of authors of selected artworks for visual artworks:
List of authors of selected artworks for inclusion in the deck’s title cards:
List of authors of selected artworks for written pieces:
Soon this works will be transformed into a climate cart deck!
Stay tuned for updates as we approach the final selection and official presentation of the card deck!
