Graduate School of Public Policy

Dr. Murodbek Laldjebaev is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy, Nazarbayev University. His scholarship is aimed at a better understanding of and identifying ways to address pressing societal challenges emanating from human-environmental relations, where humans impact the environment and are impacted by the environment. The driving question is: How can humans improve their lives while using natural resources sustainably? Within the sustainability challenge, his research looks at energy (security, poverty), environmental externalities (waste, pollution), and local indigenous knowledge (medicinal plants). His teaching aims to raise students’ awareness of human-environmental relations and the mutual impacts thereof to inculcate an environmental ethic of responsible living within nature and motivate them to take action to address sustainability challenges. A related goal is to help students develop as informed and engaged citizens ready to tackle the challenges in their societies.

Previously, Dr. Laldjebaev served as Chair of the Social Sciences and Humanities Department and an Assistant Professor at the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department of the University of Central Asia in Khorog, Tajikistan. Prior to that he headed curriculum development and program evaluation for the Institute for Professional Development of teachers in Khorog, consulted the World Bank on pre-service education, and worked as a Senior Specialist with the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Tajikistan.

Selected publications:

Journal articles:

• Zakeri, B., Hunt, J., Laldjebaev, M., Volker, K., Vinca, A., Parkinson, S., & Riahi, K. (2022). Role of energy storage in energy and water security in Central Asia. Journal of Energy Storage, 50, 104587
• Kotowski, M., Świerszcz, S., Khoury, C., Laldjebaev, M., Palavonshanbieva, B., & Nowak, A., (2022). The primal garden – Tajikistan as a biodiversity hotspot of food crop wild relatives. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 42, 112
• Laldjebaev, M., & Hussain, A. (2021). Significance of context, metrics and datasets in assessment of multidimensional energy poverty: A case study of Tajikistan. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 152, 111477
• Laldjebaev, M., Isaev, R., & Saukhimov, A. (2021). Renewable energy in Central Asia: An overview of potential, deployment, outlook and barriers. Energy Reports, 7, 3125-3136
• Polansky, J., & Laldjebaev, M. (2021). Gendered energy relations at the crossroads of Asia: Electrification, empowerment, and mixed outcomes in northeastern Afghanistan. Energy Research & Social Science, 73, 101928
• Karamkhudoeva, M., Laldjebaev, M., Ruelle, M., & Kassam, K. (2021). Medicinal plants and health sovereignty in Badakhshan, Afghanistan: Diversity, stewardship, and gendered knowledge. Human Ecology, 49(6), 809-829
• Xenarios, S., Laldjebaev, M., & Shenhav, R. (2019). Agricultural water and energy management in Tajikistan: a new opportunity. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 37(1), 118-136
• Laldjebaev, M., Morreale, S., Sovacool, B. K., & Kassam, K. (2018). Rethinking energy security and services in practice: National vulnerability and three energy pathways in Tajikistan. Energy Policy, 114, 39-50
• Laldjebaev, M. (2010). The water–energy puzzle in Central Asia: the Tajikistan perspective. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 26(1), 23-36

Chapters:

• Xenarios, S., Laldjebaev, M., Schmidt-Vogt, D., Buurman, J., & Araral, E. (2021). Powering the uplands: Controversies of developing hydropower in upstream Central and Mainland Southeast Asia. In S. Tsani and I. Øverland (Eds.), Handbook of Sustainable Politics and Economics of Natural Resources. Cheltenham Glos: Edward Elgar Publishing
• Schrader, F., Kamolidinov, A., Bekchanov, M., Laldjebaev, M., and Stella, T. (2019). Hydropower. In S. Xenarios, et al. (Eds.), The Aral Sea Basin: Water for Sustainable Development in Central Asia (pp. 52-66). London: Routledge
• Laldjebaev, M. (2018). Energy poverty in rural areas of Tajikistan. In M. Hackenfort, et al. (Eds.), Behave 2018: Book of Abstracts (pp. 210–211). Winterthur, Switzerland: ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften
• Laldjebaev, M., Sovacool, B., & Kassam, K. (2016). Energy security, poverty, and sovereignty: Complex interlinkages and compelling implications. In Guruswamy, L. (Ed.), International energy and poverty: Emerging contours (pp. 97-112). London: Routledge

Book:

• Kotowski, M., Laldjebaev, M., Palavonshanbieva, B., Sodatsairov, A. & Nowak, A. (2022). The Tajik Melting Port: Reflections of Middle Asian nature in the culinary culture of Tajikistan. Polish Academy of Sciences. Druk/Print: Softvision

Reports:

• Laldjebaev, M., Saydaliev, H., & Ibragimova, N. (2022). Potential effects of energy tariff liberalization on vulnerable households in Uzbekistan, International Labor Organization
• Лалджебаев, М., Исаев, Р., Саухимов, А. (2022). Возобновляемые источники энергии в Центральной Азии: потенциал, использование, перспективы и барьеры. Институт государственного управления и политики, УЦА. Доклад №71
• Laldjebaev, M. (2021). Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation Management in Tajikistan: End-line assessment report. Aga Khan Foundation; Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
• Laldjebaev, M., & Kassam, K. (2017). Understanding and alleviating energy poverty in rural communities in Tajikistan. MSRI, UCA: CAARF Briefs

Burke, A., Laldjebaev, M., & Dushanbiev, H. (2007). Comparative review of teacher education in Tajikistan, World Bank