The Kazakh Majilis has approved in the first reading a bill that could fundamentally change the approach to the use of the country's specially protected natural areas.
The document provides for the possibility of redistributing lands of nature reserves and national parks for infrastructure development and solving the state's strategic tasks. The main goal of the changes is to resolve the issues of settlements, social and strategic facilities that existed on these lands before the creation of the protected areas.
As noted Senator Olga Bulavkina, presenting the bill in the Majilis, the absence in current legislation of legal mechanisms for the livelihood of settlements located within specially protected natural areas created not only obstacles but also threats to the full functioning of these facilities.
Residents of villages that found themselves within the boundaries of nature reserves faced restrictions on construction, repairs, and infrastructure development for years, which significantly worsened their quality of life.
Particular attention in the new bill is paid to safety issues. Kazakhstan has many territories prone to natural disasters such as landslides, avalanches, and mudflows, especially in mountainous areas. Regional statistics cause serious concern. In the East Kazakhstan region alone, there are 13 mudflow-prone areas, located in the Katon-Karagay and Zaysan districts, in the city of Ridder and the Altai region, as well as nine landslide-prone sites.
In the upper reaches of the mountains in these areas, 144 moraine lakes are formed, posing a threat to 11 settlements. The situation is no less difficult in the Almaty region, where in the upper reaches of the Bolshaya Almatinka and Aksay rivers there are 116 mudflow-prone areas, 114 glaciers, 35 moraine-glacial lakes, nine of which are at risk of bursting. According to expert estimates, several thousand facilities and about 40 thousand people could be in the zone affected by mudflows.
To address these problems, the bill "On introducing amendments and additions to some legislative acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on issues of forestry and specially protected natural areas" provides for several fundamental changes.
Firstly, it allows the withdrawal of irrigated agricultural land, lands of experimental fields of research and educational institutions for the construction of water management facilities of strategic importance and protective structures against natural disasters.
The bill also opens up the possibility of transferring lands of specially protected natural areas to lands of other categories to ensure the functioning of rural settlements, social facilities, including medical and educational institutions, existing cemeteries, and engineering infrastructure.
The document permits the use of state forest fund lands for the construction of communications and engineering networks, establishes the competencies of state bodies, and addresses the issue of haymaking on special plots of the Alakol Nature Reserve for local residents.
The proposed changes reflect the classic dilemma of modern society: how to balance nature conservation with the need for development.
On the one hand, the bill solves pressing problems for the population and safety; on the other, it creates a precedent for the gradual erosion of the boundaries of protected areas. Experience shows that weakening the protective status of natural territories often leads to their degradation.
In Kazakhstan, where biodiversity is already under threat from climate change and anthropogenic impact, lawmakers will have to find a delicate balance between the interests of the population, the tasks of economic development, and the long-term goals of preserving unique natural landscapes.
But a logical question arises: can our system, which has more than once shown its vulnerability to corruption risks, provide impenetrable barriers against abuse in the redistribution of valuable natural lands?