Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ASTANA62
2009-01-13 08:49:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Astana
Cable title:  

KAZAKHSTAN: WORLD BANK ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS

Tags:  PGOV PREL ENRG SENV KZ 
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DE RUEHTA #0062/01 0130849
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FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA
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RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0425
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1131
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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


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