Nur-Sultan, Almaty and Ust-Kamenogork named most polluted cities
Environmental protection is considered increasingly important and significant in Kazakhstan, where investments in the sector hit a record 117 billion tenge, Strategy2050.kz informs with reference to Finprom.kz.
Kazhydromet’s study done in December last year revealed the most polluted Kazakh cities, among them Nur-Sultan, Almaty and Ust-Kamenogorsk, where a level of pollution was very high throughout the country. Cities with a high level of pollution also include Karaganda, Aktobe, Balkhash, Temirtau. Such levels of air pollution are mainly caused by urban transport; industrial enterprises, low ventilation.
Environmental protection is of high attention in Kazakhstan, with the specially protected natural territories making up 9.6% of the country’s territory in 2018, increasing since 2008 from 8.1% . Of the total area of specially protected natural territories reserves and conservation areas made up 71.1%, natural reserves – 11.9% and 10.2% - national parks.
The country has also seen the increase in investments aimed at protecting the environment over the past two years. Between January-December 2019, a record 117.4 billion tenge was funneled into environmental protection, 46.4% up than in 2018 (80.2 billion tenge).
The past five years saw 324.8 billion tenge of investment aimed at protecting the environment. With 28.7 billion tenge Aktobe region leads the list of investment by region. It is followed by Atyrau and Akmola regions with investments of 26.5 billion and 18.6 billion tenge, respectively. These regions represent 62.9% of the country’s investment in environmental protection.
The list also includes Karaganda (9 billion tenge) and Zhambyl (8.2 billion tenge) regions.
Image credit: equaljusticeproject.co.nz
