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Kazakhstan is located in the very center of the continent of Eurasia, stretching from 45̊ to 87̊ east and 56̊ to 40̊ north. To the north and north-west Kazakhstan borders on Russia; to the east, on China; and to the south, on Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. In the west lies Kazakhstan’s Caspian coast. The Republic’s land borders total 12,187 km in length. The total area of the Republic is 2,724,900 sq km (1,049,150 sq miles), making it the ninth largest country in the world, after Russia, China, the USA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India and Australia. The territory of Kazakhstan stretches almost 3,000 km from the Volga and the Caspian in the west to the Altai mountains in the east; the distance from the west Siberian plain in the north to the Tien Shan mountains in the south is about 1,700 km. Most of Kazakhstan’s land area is covered by plain, either desert (accounting for 44% of total land area), steppe and forest steppe (26%) or semi-desert (14%). Average elevation varies between 200 and 300 m above sea level. |
| Photo source: Ecological Society “Green Salvation” |
Climate:
Continental with cold winters and hot summers. Arid and semiarid. Situated between two quite different natural and climatic zones (Central Asia and Siberia), Kazakhstan is the region where the cold air masses from the north meet with the hot winds from the south. That is why Kazakhstan has the sharp continental climate. It is characterized by irregular distributions of precipitation in its different areas. In separate years spring stretches from the south to the north during 1,5 - 2 months (when it is spring sowing in the south, the north area is covered with snow and the blizzards storm frequently). Crossing the territory of Kazakhstan from north to south one can get into different climatic zones, so as various areas with its own flora and fauna. The desert of Kazakhstan is the arid area. The climate of that area is characterized by the extreme rare rains and high temperature in summer, severe and intensely cold weather in winter. There are often winds which cause sandy storms. The air is extremely dry and the temperature in summer is sharply varies even during twenty-four hours.
Photo source: IBEX, http://www.bioexploration.org/
Water Resources
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The reasons for water resource deficit are: natural conditions (90% of river discharge in spring period), formation of half discharge in neighbouring states, over-exploitation, extreme water consumption on irrigation without return and losses of water. Besides, surface water resources on the territory of the republic are distributed unequally and water volume is changed according to years and within a year.
The important problem is water decrease and deterioration of quality in lake systems that are natural regulators of water balance. In Northern Kazakhstan the territories of lakes reduced by 12%. As a result of underground water over-exploitation by large water intake and mine water withdrawal, regional level of ground water declined. Territories of large depression funnels in some cases reach more than 1,000 kmІ, and level lowering in the centre of depression is 100 m (South-Kazakhstan, Karaganda, Kostanai, Kokshetau, Eastern-Kazakhstan oblasts). |
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Photo source: UNESCO
The great part of ground water volume is discharged without use. It is the result of self-pouring artesian wells in the Pre-Aral area, mine and quarry water runoff and water losses while transporting. Ground water withdrawal is 0.54 million mі per day or 10.2% of total water supply.
According to Kazhydromet data in 1997 the basins of the Ural and Irtysh were polluted. Comparing index of water pollution (IWP) with 1996 it is declined from 11.47 to 8.95 but some kinds of pollution are very high. Maximum boron pollution reaches 98 MPC (maximum permissible concentration), phenol pollution is up to 70 MPC.
Increase of IWP in the basin of the Irtysh is observed from 6.02 to 8.24 in 1997. The high level of water pollution by copper (20 MPC), zinc (25.7 MPC) is observed
Small increase of IWP in the basins of the SyrDarya (from 1.72 to 2.89) and Ishy (from 0.79 to 1.25) is marked. The basins of the Talas (IWP=0.69) and Shu (IWP=0.77) are considered pure reservoirs.
Provision of population by high-quality drinking water is getting worse in the republic every year. In general about 25% of population or more than 4 million people don't get water-pipe water, and 16.5% use water from open reservoirs and 3.2% use water taken from other places, quality of which is not guaranteed. Specific weight of water discrepancy to sanitary standard according to decentralised sources of drinking water supply is 12.4%.
Open reservoirs not corresponding with bacteriological pollution standard make up 12.6%, and specific weight of reservoirs in places of water use not corresponding with chemical indicators is from 13.1% to 54.4%.
Sources: Sokolov V.I. Definition of boundaries of water collection basins of transbordering, local and mixed types of surface water resources in the basin of the Aral Sea and quantitative assessment. Collection of scientific works of SRC ICWC, p.35-53 Tashkent, Issue 2, 2000. Water related vision for the Aral sea basin for the year 2025, UNESCO,2000.,237p
Environmental Issues
As a result of anthropogenic impacts on the natural environment of Kazakhstan an ability to ensure future economic and social development has been violated practically on the entire territory of country.
The practice of burning associated gas in flares also inflicts significant ecological and economic damage. The increased heat background and oxidation of components of the environment around deposits and the combustion of gas have negative impacts on soil, vegetation, and the animal world adjoining to oil complexes areas, making increasing contributions to the greenhouse effect. Irrevocable losses of gas form more than 740 million cubic meters per annum. There is therefore a dependency of increased morbidity of population in the area of Tengyz oil and gas deposits (more than 6 times higher than regional indices) on pollution of atmospheric air with dioxides of sulphur and nitrogen.
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Extensive development of agricultural production has left a legacy in the form of land degradation and the impoverishment of landscapes. 60 % of the countries territory is subject to desertification bringing about a reduction in soil fertility and, leading to a reduction in the efficiency of stock-breeding and plant growth. Due to over 40 years of use of plowed virgin and fallow lands, as a result of wind and water erosion 1.2 billion tons of humus have been lost. Intensive and irrational development of irrigated farming, as well as the regulation of runoff in arid climatic conditions has brought about the hard deficit of water in basins of small and large rivers, such as the Ili, the Syrdaria, the Ishim and others. The Aral Sea disappeared before the eyes of one generation. A similar catastrophe can happen to Balkhash Lake. While the need for water in the Republic is 100 cubic kilometers per annum, the existing supply forms 34.6 cubic kilometers. By water supply per capita Kazakhstan occupies the last place amongst CIS countries. Annually more than 200 million cubic meters of polluted wastewater are discharged into surface reservoirs. More than 3 thousand sources of pollution of underground water, an area that forms several to hundreds of square kilometers has been revealed in the Republic.
Most of the enterprises of the processing and energy complexes have imperfect technology, are outdated and physically worn out, promoting an increase in harmful emissions. In the early 90-s nearly 6 million tons of pollutants (50%- heat power, 20% ferrous metallurgy, 13% - non-ferrous metallurgy, 4% - chemistry and oil chemistry) were emitted into the air annually. Areas of dangerous air pollution coincide with places of concentrated habitation. In Karagandy and Pavlodar oblasts there are respectively 10.5 and 7.7 tons of pollution for each inhabitant of emissions per annum.
As a result of activity of enterprises of the mining-metallurgical complex more than 20 billion tons of industrial waste have accumulated on the territory of Kazakhstan, with an annual generation of nearly 1 billion tons. 95 % out of the total volume of extracted ore falls into the waste, frequently exceedingly toxic one and placed in places inadequate for storage. The annual volume of generation of toxic waste in the Republic forms 84.4 million, out of them 63% - waste of non-ferrous metallurgy. These are concentrated mainly in the following oblasts: Karagandy oblast – 29.4%, East-Kazakhstan oblast – 25.7%, Kostanai oblast – 17%, Pavlodar oblast– 14.6%.
The oil and gas industry occupies the first place among the branches of industry by volumes of investments. Despite this fact, in the main regions of oil and gas extraction and oil refinery - in Atyrau and Mangystau oblasts, work is carried out with the use of backward technologies and outdated equipment bringing about accidents and leakages of oil. As a result the total area, occupied by oil pollution in West Kazakhstan, forms 194 thousand hectares, and the volume of spilt oil forms more than 5 million tons. |
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Picture source: UNEP/GRID-Arenda As a result of raising the level of the Caspian Sea more than 200 oil wells and oilfields have became flooded, including the largest ones – Kalamkas and Karazhanbas this is a threat not only for biological diversity (in the Caspian Sea 90% of sturgeon fish of the world reserves, a great amount of ornithological fauna types, and Endemic – the Caspian seal are concentrated), but for the whole environmental system of the Caspian Sea as well. For the last 10 years the commercial fish catch has reduced10 times. The enormous territory of Kazakhstan has been damaged by the activity at military testing sites and by cosmic launches. For a period between 1949 and 1991 at the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Testing Site 470 nuclear explosions took place . It is impossible to count exactly the number of people who died; the number of irradiated people has reached half a million. On the territory of the former Semipalatinsk Nuclear Testing Site nearly 2 million hectares of agricultural land has suffered from radioactive contamination. The poor condition of forests, occupying only 3% of the territory of the country, and being a place of habitation of the most valuable and rare types of animals, and 90% types of high plants known in the Republic, causes particular concern. Enormous damage to the forest resources is inflicted by fires – only in 1997 forest on areas of more than 200 thousand hectares has burned. |
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Intensive pollution of air, water and soil, degradation of the animal and vegetable world, and the depletion of natural resources have resulted in the destruction of ecosystems, desertification, and considerable losses of biological and landscape diversity, growth of population morbidity and mortality rate. Lowering quality of life and unsustainable development of the Republic are the consequences of such changes. At the same time the government expenditures on environmental protection are the lowest ones in the Euro-Asian countries. They make up not more than 0.5 USD per person per year.
The environmental management is administered by the RK Government through its central executive bodies, such as the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Economy and Budgeting, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Agency for Land Resource Management. The national and local governments set out the procedures for environmental protection and use, fix the resource use fees, regulate the activities of the natural resource users in accordance with the law and work on biological resource reproduction.
