VZCZCXRO5431
OO RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW
RUEHLA RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNEH RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHPW RUEHROV
RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHTA #0062/01 0130849
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 130849Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4331
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE 1026
RUCNCLS/SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0425
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1131
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFAAA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC 0599
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC 0514
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEHAST/USOFFICE ALMATY 1071

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 000062 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EEB/ESC, OES/PCI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ENRG SENV KZ
SUBJECT:  KAZAKHSTAN:  WORLD BANK ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS 
 
ASTANA 00000062  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Among the several World Bank environmental 
projects in Kazakhstan, four stand out as noteworthy.  The Drylands 
Protection Project in the Shetskiy rayon of Karaganda oblast 
promotes sustainable land use by encouraging livestock to graze on 
open grassland rather than on overgrazed land near villages. 
Kazakhstan has more than 110 million hectares of rich, empty 
grassland that is suitable for pasture, but without grazing it will 
succumb to gradual desertification.  The Solar-Powered Windmill 
Project provides remote villages with electricity and, at the same 
time, draws water from underground water tables for livestock.  This 
project has dramatically increased livestock production in the pilot 
project area.  The Ust-Kamenogorsk Groundwater Contamination Project 
will clean up one of Kazakhstan's more polluted industrial cities, 
preventing groundwater contamination from migrating toward the 
city's drinking water supply.  Finally, the Nura River Clean-Up 
Project will clean up mercury pollution from the Termirtau Rubber 
Plant that has left the local community with no reliable, safe 
source of water.  END SUMMARY. 
 
DRYLAND PROTECTION 
 
¶3. (SBU) Regional Environmental Officer (REO) and Environmental 
Specialist recently met with World Bank Project Coordinator Bulat 
Utkelov, who outlined four important projects among the several 
environmental projects in Kazakhstan that the World Bank supports. 
He noted that 18 percent of all World Bank projects in Kazakhstan 
are environmental or have an environment-related component. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Utkelov said the objective of the Global Environment 
Project (GEP)-funded Dryland Protection Project in Kazakhstan is to 
demonstrate and promote sustainable land use in the marginal dryland 
ecosystem in the remote Shetskiy rayon, a district in the southern 
part of the Karaganda oblast.  The Drylands Project started in June 
2003, and is projected to end in March 2010.  The total projected 
cost is $9.7 million, of which GEP is funding $5.3 million and the 
Kazakhstani government is contributing $1.3 million.  The project 
will test the environmental, social, and economic viability of 
shifting from an unsustainable, cereal-based production system to 
the traditional, livestock-based production system. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Utkelov said the project will help halt the degradation of 
the drylands because livestock grazing actually stimulates the soil 
to increase grassland growth.  This will also help farmers keep 
their livestock in the grasslands, thereby reducing overgrazing on 
the land near the villages, and at the same time improve the general 
hygiene in the villages, where villagers have traditionally lived 
with their animals.  In general, 85-90 percent of all livestock live 
in villages, he said. 
 
¶6. (SBU) According to Utkelov, Kazakhstan has more than 110 million 
hectares of empty grassland that is suitable for pasture but is not 
being used.  Without grazing, gradual desertification will degrade 
this rich grassland.  He said that during 1955-2005, Kazakhstan 
suffered severe losses of humus (the organic component of soil) and 
land degradation.  Utkelov also hoped the project would indirectly 
help protect the saiga, a near-extinct, goat-like antelope of 
central Eurasia.  In the past, approximately two million saiga 
inhabited these vast grasslands, but now only an estimated 42,000 
remain.  Most have fallen victim to poachers who are feeding China's 
insatiable demand for saiga horns that are used to treat fevers and 
fetch up to $100 a kilogram (2.2 pounds) in markets. 
 
SOLAR-POWERED WINDMILLS 
 
¶7. (SBU) Utkelov said the World Bank funds a Solar-Powered Windmill 
Project that provides villages with wind-powered electricity and 
draws water from underground water tables for their livestock. 
(NOTE: Kazakhstani representatives presented a video of these 
windmills during a Renewable Energy Conference in Tashkent October 
12-13.  The windmills are easy to assemble and reliably generate 
electricity in the windswept steppe lands of rural Kazakhstan.  END 
NOTE.)  Utkelov said that this project has helped local villages 
 
ASTANA 00000062  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
increase livestock population dramatically, with the average annual 
growth at 14 percent.  In the Shetskiy rayon (mentioned above), the 
average increase has been 100-120 percent.  He said the Ministry of 
Agriculture and the Ministry of Environment want to increase the 
scope and scale of this project. 
 
UST-KAMENOGORSK GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION 
 
¶8. (SBU) Utkelov said the World Bank also has a five-year 
environmental remediation project in Ust-Kamenogorsk, in East 
Kazakhstan oblast, that was initiated in December 2008 to prevent 
groundwater contamination from migrating into the city's drinking 
water supply and eventually into the Irtysh River.  He said the 
Soviet Union built up Ust-Kamenogorsk's industrial base during World 
War Two because it is a rich metallurgical site.  Because of this, 
non-ferrous industrial waste has been seeping into the soil for over 
a half century.  The World Bank is providing a $30 million loan, 
with the estimated total cost to exceed $40 million. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Utkelov said the project entails strengthening 
institutional mechanisms for groundwater quality monitoring in order 
to control ongoing groundwater pollution from local municipal and 
industrial sources.  It also includes the remediation of existing 
contaminated groundwater sites.  To accomplish this, teams will dig 
wells using "trap technology" in order to catch and clean the 
contaminated water, then pump it back into the ground. 
 
¶10. (SBU) According to Utkelov, based on the Bank's previous 
experience in the region, it will be difficult to coordinate between 
key government agencies and the polluting industries.  The Bank must 
involve local institutions from the very beginning of the project, 
and a competent and efficient national management staff is crucial 
to ensure the viability and sustainability of the project. 
 
NURA RIVER CLEAN-UP PROJECT 
 
¶11. (SBU) Utkelov said because the USSR desperately needed rubber 
during World War Two, the Soviets built an industrial plant on the 
Naru River in Termirtau, Karaganda oblast.  The production process 
used mercury as a catalyst, and the plant dumped this waste into the 
river.  Over the course of the last 25 years, this plant discharged 
more than 150 tons of mercury into the Nura River.  The Nura River 
was a major source of water for the region, and now the local 
population does not have a reliable, safe source of water.  In 
addition, the contamination is so bad, Utkelov said, that mercury 
salt has penetrated the homes in the district.  The Nura River 
Cleanup Project's goal is to clean up serious mercury pollution in 
the Nura River and thereby improve the health of the local 
population.  In addition, the project will find a safe, secure, and 
cost-effective alternative source of water supply for local 
residents.  Finally, it seeks to control the river flow for flood 
management and ecological purposes. 
 
¶12. (SBU) The project's first step, Utkelov said, was to build a 
secure landfill to contain contaminated soil and materials, excavate 
all the contaminated sites, including the nearby Zhaur Swamp, where 
mercury had accumulated along the banks and floodplains of the Nura 
River, and finally transport this contaminated soil and materials to 
the landfill.  The project also provided technical assistance, 
training, and equipment to help the Nura-Sarysu River Basin 
Authority increase its management capacity.  It also strengthened 
the water quality monitoring network and water pollution control 
systems.  The ultimate goal is to bring mercury levels in the river 
down to internationally-accepted levels for drinking water.  The 
project began in May 2003 and will run through September 2009, with 
an expected overall cost of $40 million. 
 
HOAGLAND