Kazakhstani nature reserves and national parks have lost their status as inviolable territories. A number of amendments to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan «On Specially Protected Natural Areas», which is coming into force today, are radically changing the landscape of environmental regulation, opening up the possibility for the construction of large infrastructure facilities, including dams and dams, where this was previously almost impossible. Although the law stipulates that specially protected natural areas (SPNA) belong to the people of Kazakhstan, the new norms allow the state to be much more active in managing these lands for economic purposes.
The key change was the expansion of opportunities for the construction of hydraulic structures (HTS). Now construction on protected areas is possible according to two main scenarios. The first — is the implementation of «strategic» projects. The new Water Code and the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan provide a broad definition of strategic objects, including structures that are of socio-economic importance and affect water safety. The government has the authority to approve a list of such facilities, and it already includes cascades of hydroelectric power stations and debris retention dams planned for construction. For such strategic gas transportation systems, the law now allows the transfer of protected areas lands to reserve lands by government decision, provided there are no alternative placement options. This is a complex, but now very realistic procedure for confiscating protected lands for the needs of large-scale energy or water supply.
The second scenario introduced by the new amendments looks even more alarming for environmentalists, as it greatly simplifies the process. Article 23 of the Law on Protected Areas has been supplemented with a clause allowing the construction of hydraulic engineering and other protective structures against mudflows, avalanches and landslides on protected areas of republican significance without land transfer. Now, to build a protective dam, it is enough to conclude a long-term use agreement between the administration of the national park or reserve and the government agency. This creates the risk that, under the guise of «protective» structures in protected areas, projects that have other, hidden economic goals may be lobbied for, while bypassing the strict procedure for land seizure through a decision of the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
No less significant was the change in the regime of protected zones — territories adjacent to the borders of nature reserves and national parks and serving as a buffer against external influences. The direct prohibition of the construction of «dams and dams» in these zones has been excluded from articles 43 and 48 of the Law on Protected Areas. If previously such objects were categorically prohibited, now their construction is theoretically possible if the initiators can prove the absence of harmful effects on the ecosystem of the protected area.
«Previously, these zones served as an inviolable buffer protecting the core of valuable natural areas from external influences, – points out the director of the OF «Rivers Without Borders» Alexander Kolotov. –Now the new amendments remove the legal barrier that categorically prohibited the construction of such large-scale hydraulic structures».
«Under the plausible pretext of protection from natural disasters, fragmentation of the most valuable natural landscapes may begin, – notes the chief specialist of the PF «Rivers Without Borders» Evgeniy Simonov. – A similar mechanism is provided for the development of tourism: engineering infrastructure for tourist sites, such as roads or power lines, can now also be built in a zone of limited economic activity of protected areas without any transfer of land».
Experts fear that the innovations provide too much scope for abuse. The development of tourism infrastructure, the need to protect against natural disasters, or the implementation of «strategic» government plans can become a legal cover for the fragmentation and development of unique natural complexes.
