RFE/RL reports that activists oppose the USD 20bn 'Asman Eco-City of the Future' project, which is to be developed on 4,000 hectares on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul, in an area hosting 39 endangered species. The area was designated in 2001 as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, as "one of the last harmonic cultural landscapes in the middle Asia preserving habitats close to nature in combination with traditional culture".