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O 040941Z MAR 09
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 000387 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN 
STATE FOR OES, PHUDAK, NFITE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV EPET SENV KZ
SUBJECT:  KAZAKHSTAN:  U.S. AIR WAR COLLEGE DELEGATION MEETS WITH 
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT 
 
ASTANA 00000387  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:  Three main documents serve as the basis for 
Kazakhstan's environmental activities and underpin the government's 
environmental policies, Ministry of Environment official told a 
visiting U.S. Air War College delegation on March 2.  These 
documents are the Environmental Code, the Concept Document on 
Ecological Security, and the Concept Documents on the Transition to 
Sustainable Development (the latter two are presidential decrees). 
Kazakhstan's parliament ratified the Kyoto Protocol on February 26 
and the President is expected to sign it in the coming days. 
Kazakhstan has implemented a number of large-scale environmental 
projects, including wetland conservation, biodiversity preservation, 
and drylands restoration.  Kazakhstan has also prepared a draft law 
on renewable energy.  While the Semipalatinsk area (the former 
Soviet nuclear test site) continues to have serious environmental 
problems, Kazakhstan has been able to revive part of the North Aral 
Sea and raise its water level six meters.  Kazakhstan wants to 
organize a five-country water-energy consortium, because the 
problems of water and energy are interconnected.  The new Tax Code 
has standardized and fixed pollution fees, thereby helping companies 
better assess their future costs for long-term investment.  The five 
littoral countries bordering the Caspian Sea signed a framework 
convention to protect the Caspian's environment, even though there 
is still no final agreement on Caspian demarcation.  END SUMMARY. 
 
THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENTAL FRAMEWORK 
 
¶2.  The Director of the Ministry of Environmental Protection's 
Department of Legal Provision and International Cooperation, 
Alexander Bragin, accompanied by Department of Environmental Policy 
and Sustainable Development Director Bolat Bekniyaz and Committee of 
Environmental Regulation and Control Deputy Chairman Yerlan Ospanov, 
told a visiting U.S. Air War College delegation on March 2 that 
three documents serve as the basis for Kazakhstan's environmental 
activities and underpin all of the government's environmental 
policies:  the Environmental Code, the Concept Document on 
Ecological Security (2004-2015), and the Concept Document on 
Transition to Sustainable Development (2007-2024).  The latter two 
are presidential decrees. 
 
¶3.  Bragin said Kazakhstan's Environmental Code is unique in the 
entire post-Soviet region in that Kazakhstan has presented it to the 
UN General Assembly and it complies with all EU environmental 
regulations, as well as with those of most advance developed 
countries.  He said Kazakhstan's long-term strategic sustainable 
development plan has 12 broad parameters, including quality of life, 
longevity, productivity, and the effective use of resources. 
 
ACTIVE INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES 
 
¶4.  Bragin said Kazakhstan actively cooperates with international 
partners and has ratified 25 of the most important environmental 
conventions.  He noted that Kazakhstan's parliament ratified the 
Kyoto Protocol on February 26 and said the President is expected to 
sign it in the coming days.  Bragin said Kazakhstan hosted a 
sustainable development forum on energy in 2008, and announced that 
in 2010, Kazakhstan will host a conference of ministers of 
environment from the Asian-Pacific region, and in 2012 it will host 
a senior-level conference of ministers of environment from the 
Eurasian region, with the United States and Canada invited to 
participate. 
 
DRYLANDS MANAGEMENT PROJECT 
 
¶5.  Bragin said Kazakhstan has implemented a number of large-scale 
environmental projects funded by the Global Environment Facility 
(GEF), including wetland conservation, biodiversity preservation, 
and drylands restoration.  He explained that the Drylands 
(Grasslands) Management Project's initial phase, sponsored by the 
World Bank, was confined to 15,000 hectares in the Shetsky district 
in South Karaganda oblast.  The project's aim is to restore the 
grasslands to sustainability.  The government plans to launch a 
second phase soon that will cover the whole country.   He said most 
 
ASTANA 00000387  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
of these lands have seriously eroded as a result of the Soviet-era 
"Virgin Lands" campaign, and in some places have even become desert. 
 The goal now is to restore traditional "no-till" cultivation 
methods, natural steppe flora, and livestock open range grazing to 
avoid concentrating livestock in one location that could lead to 
overgrazing and further land degradation. 
 
RENEWABLE ENERGY 
 
¶6.  Bragin said Kazakhstan has also prepared a draft law on 
renewable energy and President Nazarbayev has asked the government 
to develop a strategy for a more efficient use of renewable energy. 
He said Kazakhstan's renewable energy potential is "huge" and noted 
that in southern Kazakhstan, the total capacity of micro hydro 
stations is four gigawatts.  One of Kazakhstan's goals is to develop 
sufficient renewable wind and solar energy power and potable water 
resources to permit the return to nomadic traditions in the steppes. 
 As nomads move with their livestock, they should be able to find 
readily available renewable energy and potable water to help sustain 
this traditional lifestyle. 
 
SEMIPALATINSK REMAINS A DIFFICULT ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM 
 
¶7.  Bragin maintained that there remains a radioactive waste problem 
in the Semipalatinsk area (the former Soviet nuclear test site, 
where there were more than 100 above-ground nuclear explosions). 
Kazakhstan has brought this matter before the United Nations twice, 
but unfortunately there has been very little international aid. 
NATO has supported two projects and Great Britain one.  Kazakhstan 
has done most of the rehabilitation work, and has a comprehensive 
rehabilitation project underway through 2009.  It plans a similar 
follow-on project to run through 2012. 
 
NORTH ARAL SEA: SOME RECOVERY, BUT STILL IN DANGER 
 
¶8.  Bragin said that even though Kazakhstan, with the help of the 
World Bank, has been able to revive part of the north Aral Sea and 
raise its water level six meters, the Aral Sea is still in jeopardy 
and the government has decided to raise this issue at the next 
session of the UN General Assembly.  He mentioned the International 
Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) as an organization active in 
saving the Aral Sea, but in spite of its work and the work of other 
similar groups, the Aral Sea continues to shrink.  He said that 
unless something dramatic and unforeseen happens, in spite of the 
efforts of governments in the region, the south and east parts of 
the Aral Sea will not return to their previous state.  Most of the 
water flowing into the Aral Sea comes from the Syr-Darya River, 
flowing through Uzbekistan.  Currently, he said there is hardly any 
water reaching the Aral Sea, and unless the regional water 
management problem is resolved, the problem of the Aral Sea will not 
be solved.  Bragin said Kazakhstan is "doing its best, but other 
countries are not cooperating."  Kazakhstan has been somewhat 
successful in the north Aral Sea, but has no ability to affect the 
rest of the Aral Sea.  There is currently discussion of creating a 
five-country water consortium in Central Asia to address this 
problem, but Bragin said Kazakhstan would prefer to see a 
water-energy consortium, because the problems of water and energy 
are interconnected. 
 
POLLUTION FEES 
 
¶9.  Bragin said that the government has been able to gain more 
control over the environmental programs of "national resource 
companies" (e.g., oil and gas companies, mining companies, etc.). 
He claimed that the Ministry's objective is to reduce resource 
companies' overall pollution fees.  In the past, local governments 
determined what substances were "pollutants" and how much the 
pollutant fees were.  In many cases, companies were paying for 
emissions on an unlimited number of substances.  The new Tax Code 
now stipulates which substances are "pollutants" and sets a fixed 
fee, changeable from year to year.  As a result, companies can 
better assess future costs.  Bragin said the bulk of the pollution 
 
ASTANA 00000387  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
fees go into local government budgets, and only 30 percent goes into 
the general budget earmarked for environmental projects.  As a 
result, the Ministry of Environment is less concerned about 
assessing pollution fees and more concerned about properly 
implemented environmental programs. 
 
CASPIAN SEA 
 
¶10.  Bragin said the Caspian Sea is one of Central Asia's most 
serious environmental problems.  It has attracted a great deal of 
attention because this is where most of Central Asia's oil is 
produced.  The five littoral countries (Azerbaijan, Iran, 
Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan) have signed the Framework 
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the 
Caspian Sea, calling on the states to protect the Caspian Sea's 
fragile environment.  Unfortunately, he said, the littoral states 
have not finalized an agreement on the Caspian's demarcation.  The 
Caspian Environmental Program Office, previously located in Tehran, 
will now move to Astana as part of its regular rotation through the 
littoral countries. 
 
HOAGLAND