BOKONBAYEVO, Kyrgyzstan (RNS) — On a crisp afternoon in November, Bakyt Choitonbaev picked his way along a narrow trail, pushing through spiky shrubs of ephedra before stopping at a small pool of bright green water and pointing out well-worn patches of dirt where visitors kneel to pray.Pilgrims, Choitonbaev explained, come from around Kyrgyzstan to this spring and half a dozen others nearby to seek healing from illnesses or help bearing children.
This community leader lives in nearby Bokonbayevo, a town of 14,000 people at the foot of the snowcapped Tian Shan mountains in this central Asian country. For the past seven years, he said, he has noticed less and less water in the springs, a decline he attributed to both lower rainfall and to the constant flow of visitors who drink the water or bottle it for its sacred properties.
The springs are just one of numerous sites with religious or spiritual significance in this region that are being affected by human impacts on the environment, from development to climate change. “When the springs disappear, that causes pain, of course,” Choitonbaev said.
Known as Manzhyly-Ata, after a holy man buried nearby, the springs are located along the shores of Issyk Kul, the 10th-largest lake in the world; its name translates to …
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This community leader lives in nearby Bokonbayevo, a town of 14,000 people at the foot of the snowcapped Tian Shan mountains in this central Asian country. For the past seven years, he said, he has noticed less and less water in the springs, a decline he attributed to both lower rainfall and to the constant flow of visitors who drink the water or bottle it for its sacred properties.
The springs are just one of numerous sites with religious or spiritual significance in this region that are being affected by human impacts on the environment, from development to climate change. “When the springs disappear, that causes pain, of course,” Choitonbaev said.
Known as Manzhyly-Ata, after a holy man buried nearby, the springs are located along the shores of Issyk Kul, the 10th-largest lake in the world; its name translates to …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]