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Ulan Kasymov

Ph.D., Associate Professor

Economics Department

Division of Applied Sciences

 

Email: [javascript protected email address]

Phone: +996 (312) 915000 ext. 470

Room: 210

 

Dr. Ulan Kasymov is a DAAD Associated Professor in the Economics Department, American University of Central Asia, and is a Teaching Fellow at the Resource Economic Group, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
He earned his PhD in Agricultural Economics from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (2016, Germany) and is currently a habilitation candidate there. 

Ulan has extensive research experience in Central Asia and Mongolia on environmental governance of land and water resources. Between 2016 and 2025, Ulan worked as a Research Fellow at the Resource Economic Group, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and at the Chair of Ecosystem Services, TUD Dresden University of Technology, and was involved in several research projects funded by the German Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space and implemented in the Central Asian region and Mongolia. The projects include the “MORE STEP” research project in Mongolia. The aim of the transdisciplinary research was to analyze the socio-ecological dynamics of the Mongolian steppe ecosystem to identify irreversible processes and prevent them at an early stage. Ulan analyzed the existing policies on the sustainable use and conservation of grasslands. 

Ulan was one of the lead authors of the IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) Regional Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for Europe and Central Asia (2018) - Chapter 6: “Options for governance and decision-making across scales and sectors”. Together with co-authors, he published several peer-reviewed articles based on the IPBES regional assessment.

In 2017, the Center for Environment and Development was launched at AUCA, and Ulan cooperated with the center as an external Senior Researcher. In 2026, Ulan joined AUCA as a DAAD Associated Professor.

  • DAAD Scholarship
  • Volkswagen Foundation Scholarship 
  • Erasmus Mundus Scholarship from the European Commission

Dr. Ulan Kasymov’s research interests include environmental governance, institutional economics, land and water management, and rural development.

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Hamidov, A.; Kasymov, U.; Mayar, A.; Dönmez, C.; Aghabeygi, M.; Bobocholov, A.; Paul, C. (2026). Do improved irrigation systems lead to an increase in irrigated areas and changes in crop rotations? Assessing rebound effects in Uzbekistan. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2026.2701376

Jäschke, Y., Oyundelger, K., Munkhzul, O., Khaliun, U., Oyuntsetseg,B., Phan, Th. N., Lehnert, L., Van Laere, J,. Gonchigsumlaa, G., Damdindorj, S., Kasymov, U., Drees, L., Dejid, N., Mehring, M., Ritz, Ch. M., Wesche, K. (2026). Beyond Climate and Grazing: Impact of Herder Mobility on Steppe Vegetation. Applied Vegetation Science, 29(2): e70077. https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.70077.

Oyundelger, K., Jäschke, Y., Gonchigsumlaa, G., Batjav, B., Damdindorj, S., Munkhzul, O. Phan, T.N., Drees, L., Kasymov, U., Lehnert, L., & Ring, I. (2025). Pasture condition in the Mongolian steppe: Cross-validating traditional ecological knowledge and field-based ecological surveys. Biological Conservation, 313, 111587. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2025.111587

Schmidt, S., Hamidov, A., & Kasymov, U. (2024). Analysing Groundwater Governance in Uzbekistan through the Lenses of Social-Ecological System and Informational Governance. International Journal of the Commons, 18(1), 203–217. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijc.1322

Peter, S., Niess, S., Batjav, Nandintsetseg Dejid, N., Drees, L., Jäschke, Y., Kasymov, U., Damdindorj, S., Dorjoo, Kh., Gonchigsumlaa, G., Denise Margaret S. Matias, D.M., Müller, Th., & Mehring, M. (2024). The role of traditional ecological knowledge, given the transformation of pastoralism in Central and Eastern Mongolia. Ambio, 53, 1813–1829. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-024-02057-w

Kasymov, U., Ring, I., Gonchigsumlaa, G., Dejid, N., & Drees, L. (2023). Exploring complementarity of interdependent pastoral institutions in Mongolia. Sustainability Science, 18, 115–131. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-022-01198-9

Kasymov, U., Wang, X., Zikos, D., Chopan, M., & Ibele, B. (2022): Institutional barriers to sustainable forest management: Lessons from a framed field experiment. Ecological Economics, 193, 107276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107276.

Busch, J., Ring, I., Akullo, M., Amarjargal, O., Borie, M., Cassola, R. S., Cruz-Trinidad, A., Droste, N., Haryanto, J. T., Kasymov, U., Kotenko, N. V., Lhkagvadorj, A., Lima De Paulo, F.L., May, P. H., Mukherjee, A., Mumbunan, S., Santos, R., Tacconi, L., Selva, G. V., Verma, M., Wang, X., Yu, L., & Zhou, K. (2021). A Global Review of the Ecological Fiscal Transfers. Nature Sustainability, 4, 756-765. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00728-0

Yu, L., & Kasymov, U. (2020). Social construction of pastureland: Changing rules and resource use rights in China and Kyrgyzstan, International Journal of the Commons, 14(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijc.940

Kasymov, U. & Thiel, A. (2019). Understanding the role of power in changes to pastoral institutions in Kyrgyzstan. International Journal of the Commons. 13(2), 931-948. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijc.870

Kasymov, U., Undeland, A., Dörre, A. & MacKinnon, A. (2016). Central Asia – Kyrgyzstan and the learning experience in design of pastoral institutions. The Future of Pastoralism, OIE Scientific and Technical Review, 35(2). https://doi.org/10.20506/rst.35.2.2538

 

Other publications (books, book chapters, book reviews, research reports and conference proceedings)

Kasymov, U., Hamidov, A., Helming, K., Villamayor-Tomas, S., Paul, C. (2026). Rebound Effects in Irrigated Agriculture - Insights from Governance, Behavioral and Economic Perspectives. International Journal of Water Resources Development, https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2026.2732005

Abdullaev, I., Assubayeva, A., Bobojonov, I., Djanibekov, N., Dombrowsky, I., Gafurov, A., Hamidov, A., Herrfahrdt-Pähle, E., Janusz-Pawletta, B., Ishangulyyev, R., Kasymov, U., Mirkasimov, B., Petrick, M., Strobehn, K., & Ziganshina, D. (2025): Current challenges in Central Asian water governance and their implications for research, higher education, and science-policy interaction, Central Asian Journal of Water Research, 11(1), 47-58. https://doi.org/10.29258/CAJWR/2025-R1.v11-1/47-58.eng

Kasymov, U., & Ring, I. (2021). Exploring institutional complementarity and social thresholds of mobility in pastoral social-ecological systems in Mongolia. Congress Proceeding, International Rangeland Congress, Nairobi, October 23-29, 2021. Available at https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4326&context=igc

Dörre, A., & Kasymov, U. (2021). User-Based Pasture Management in Kyrgyzstan: Achievements, Challenges, and Trends. Paper presented at the XXIV International Grassland Congress / XI International Rangeland Congress (Sustainable Use of Grassland and Rangeland Resources for Improved Livelihoods), 25–29 October 2021. Available at https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/24/6/11/

Korintenberg, M., Gotgelf, A.,  Baibagyshov, E., Judis, R., Kasymov, U., Walter, J., Lange, S., Neetzow, P., Eisenack, K. & Zeitz, J. (2021). Method for organic carbon stock assessment and improvement of Land Degradation Neutrality and climate change reporting on agricultural ecosystems in the Kyrgyz Republic. Soil Science Department and Resource Economics Group, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. Available at: https://www.international-climate-initiative.com/en/iki-media/publication/method_for_organic_carbon_stock_assessment_and_improvement_of_land_degradation_neutrality_and_climate_change_reporting_on_agricultural_ecosystems_in_kyrgyz_republic/

Margaret, D. M., Drees, L., Kasymov, U., Dejid, N., Batbuyan, B., Dashpurev, T., Dorj, U., Gonchigsumlaa, G., Müller, T., Ring, I. & Mehring, M. (2020). Mobility at risk: Sustaining the Mongolian steppe ecosystem –developing a vision. Stakeholder involvement and identification of drivers and pathways towards sustainable development. ISOE-Materialien Soziale Ökologie, Nr. 62. Institut für sozial-ökologische Forschung (ISOE) GmbH, Frankfurt am Main. Available at: https://www.isoe.de/uploads/downloads/Publikationen/Reihen/ISOE-Materialien-Soziale-Oekologie/msoe-62-isoe-2020.pdf

Murzakulova, A., Schmidt-Vogt, D., Balla, D., Darr, D., Hamidov A., Kasymov, U., Mendelevitch, R., & Orazgaliyev, S. (2019): Water for agriculture and other economic sectors, In: Xenarios, S. (Ed.), Schmidt-Vogt, D. (Ed.), Qadir, M. (Ed.), Janusz-Pawletta, B. (Ed.), Abdullaev, I. (Ed.), Smakhtin, V. (2019). The Aral Sea Basin. Water for Sustainable Development in Central Asia. London: Routledge, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429436475

Ridder, R., Isakov, A. & Kasymov, U. (2017). Transformation in Pasture use in Kyrgyzstan. What are the Costs of Pasture Degradation? In V. R. Squires, S. Zhan-Huan, & A. Ariapour, eds. Rangelands along the Silk Road: Transformative Adaptation under Climate and Global Change. Nova Science Publishers, 299–322

Kasymov, U. (2016). Designing institutions in a post-socialist transformation process. Institutions in regulating access to and management of pasture resources in Kyrgyzstan. Institutional change in agriculture and natural resources. V. Beckmann & K. Hagedorn, eds., Aachen: Shaker Verlag

Kasymov, U. (2016). Book review: Mensch und Umwelt in Kirgistan. Politische Ökologie im postkolonialen und postsozialistischen Kontext. Central Asian Survey, 35(2), 313–315. doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2016.1143293 

Bichsel, C., Ibraimova, A., Kasymov, U., Steimann, B., Thieme, S., & Fokou, C. (2010). Natural resource institutions in transformation: The tragedy and glory of the private. In H. Hurni & U. Wiesmann, eds. Global Change and Sustainable Development: A Synthesis of Regional Experiences from Research Partnerships. Bern: Geographica Bernensia, 255–269. Available at: 10.7892/boris.119372 

 

 

  • Sustainability and Socio-economic Development in Central Asia and Mongolia
  • Advanced empirical methods to study Social-Ecological Systems in Central Asia