The Government session chaired by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov considered the implementation of the republican environmental action Taza Kazakstan, which was initiated by the Head of State. The Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Yerlan Nysanbayev reported on the measures taken, primeminister.kz reports.
According to him, in 2024 the number of annual mass ecological actions on cleaning of territories has increased from 62 to 183 events. In this case, if earlier from 2019 to 2023, the total number of participants in the actions was 2.4 million people, collected 900 thousand tonnes of rubbish, planted about 2.5 million green plants, then at the end of 2024, mass environmental actions covered 6.2 million people who collected 1.1 million tonnes of waste, planted about 1.6 million trees.
These results, according to the information of the Minister, show that the efforts put into the actions Taza Kazakstan are maintained at a high level, become larger and more effective. In the regions held such events as:
- Taza Olke - cleaning of territories and yards, organised by residents, public, organisations and enterprises;
- Kieli Meken - improvement of the territory of historical and cultural monuments;
- Zhasyl Aimak - planting of tree seedlings and whitewashing of plantations;
- Onegeli Kurpak - cleaning and improvement of veterans' yards and territories of old people's homes;
- Moldir bulak - cleaning of rubbish from the neighbourhoods of water bodies.
In order to involve citizens in solving the problems of settlements and ecology in June 2024, the service of submitting applications via telegram chat-bot @TazaQazBot was launched.
According to the Minister, the chat-bot is popular among the residents of the country. Currently, about 10.7 thousand applications have been received, more than 9.7 thousand applications have been fulfilled.
The Minister noted that in terms of regions, the largest number of requests is received in the cities of Almaty and Astana, as well as in the Turkestan region
Another effective tool in preserving the ecosystem is space monitoring. Satellite images help to detect and eliminate illegal accumulations of rubbish. Based on the data of ‘Kazakstan Ғarysh Sapary’ territorial departments of ecology make a visit and record each case, after which akimats are issued an order for liquidation.
By the way, in recent years, the number of identified landfills has significantly decreased, and the percentage of elimination has increased. Thus, if in 2018, 8.7 thousand illegal accumulations of rubbish were identified and 57% were eliminated, in 2024, about 4.8 thousand sites with waste were identified, of which 91% were eliminated.
In this regard, the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources proposed at the Government session to strengthen the work in terms of expanding the coverage area of settlements and the frequency of space images.
An important element in the formation of a waste management culture among the population is the provision of appropriate infrastructure. As part of fulfilment of the Head of State's instruction, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources has formed a preliminary pool of 94 projects worth 232 billion tenge to be financed by the recycling levy on the basis of proposals from akimats. At present, 45 business entities have refused to participate in the programme out of the 94 projects. According to the minister, this could have been avoided if akimats worked out the projects in detail at the stage of pool formation. For example, the largest number of refusals is observed in Turkestan region and in Zhetysu.
At the same time, in order to achieve the indicators on increasing the capacity for sorting and processing of solid domestic waste, the Ministry together with akimats throughout the period worked on the formation of an additional pool of projects.
As a result, today the Ministry has considered 65 projects submitted by akimats for a total amount of 307 billion tenge, including 41 projects on waste processing.
To date, for 5 projects of JSC ‘Zhasyl Damu’ directed funds to the Industrial Development Fund in the amount of 3.5 billion tenge, and the total cost of projects including private investment is 5 billion tenge. Another 11 projects for the amount of 60.9 billion tenge are at the II stage of consideration in the IDF. 49 projects worth 241.1 billion tenge are being worked out by investors based on the comments of the DIF.
In general, the total capacity of these projects is:
- 2.2 million tonnes per year for sorting;
- 1.1 million tonnes per year for processing.
Implementation of these projects will create more than 4,500 jobs and attract 54.6 billion tenge of private investment.
Another key area in the work of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources is the creation and maintenance of green spaces. Within the framework of fulfilment of the Head of State's instruction to plant 15 million trees on the territory of settlements, about 3 million trees are planted annually. In total, more than 12 million trees have been planted between 2021 and 2024.
In implementation of the Head of State's instruction on creation of saxaul plantations on the dried Aral Sea bed on the area of 1.1 million hectares in 2021-2024, reclamation works on the area of 475 thousand hectares were carried out, including 127 thousand hectares in 2024.
The plan for 2025 is 428 thousand hectares, of which 100 thousand hectares will be carried out by local executive bodies and 328 thousand hectares by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources.
As of today, the Ministry has already attracted funds from KATCO for the amount of 2.2 billion tenge to carry out works on the area of 148 thousand hectares.
As part of the Head of State's instruction to plant 2 billion trees by 2027, 1.1 million seedlings were planted in 2021-2024 on an area of 736.8 thousand hectares, of which 306 million seedlings were planted in 2024 on an area of 205.2 thousand hectares.
The plan of the current year is 336.5 million seedlings on the area of 494 thousand hectares.
In general, for 2025 forestry works are provided with the necessary planting material. This year, on the instructions of the Prime Minister, it is planned to start scaling up the cultivation of planting material with closed root system within the framework of leasing financing. In total, it is planned to build 6 forest nurseries, each with a capacity of 6 million seedlings per year.
At the same time, in order to promptly solve the deficit of planting material, akimats have been instructed to consider the possibility of its purchase in private forest nurseries.
According to the Minister, to attract the younger generation to careful attitude to nature and increase their environmental awareness, sowing and cultivation of planting material in containers by schoolchildren in 236 schools adjacent to the territory of 30 specially protected natural areas has been initiated. It is planned to grow 36.2 thousand pieces of planting material. It is planned to give 20.6 thousand seedlings to schools for planting this spring.
But creation of green plantings in settlements is carried out by local executive bodies on the basis of recommendations of scientific organisations, in connection with which regional akimats are instructed to:
- to provide scientific support for planting and maintenance of green spaces;
- to comply with the use of quality zoned planting material;
- to organise accounting and monitoring of the state of green plantings in settlements.
An important issue is also the preservation of unique natural objects concentrated in specially protected natural areas. With the annual growth of visitors to national parks, the anthropogenic load on natural complexes is increasing. In this regard, the Forestry Committee together with JSC Zhasyl Damu in the national parks Kolsai kolderi and Charyn in 2024 implemented a programme Clean Tourism, which installed 3 fandomat, 26 containers and 6 urns for separate collection of waste.
This year it is planned to scale this experience in 7 most visited national parks.
In addition, the Minister said that in order to form a proper level of environmental culture of the population at the end of October 2024 approved the Concept of development of environmental culture Taza Kazakstan for 2024-2029 and the Plan for its implementation. At present, regional maslikhats are approving regional plans for the implementation of the Concept, which include measures on gardening, eco-volunteering, environmental contests, as well as improving environmental education and culture of the population.
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