"Our aim is to improve the environment in the Republic of..." - Zulfukar Zholdasov

Lately people are often worried about the pollution of the environment. The discontent of the population is growing, and there are indeed reasons for this. Smog, water pollution, "black snow", landfills and waste. Social networks are filled with comments and videos of caring residents of cities and villages, like a "cry of the soul" - "there is nothing to breathe!", "children are sick", " do something!", " environmentalists, why don't you work?", etc.
In fact, there is a lot of work going on. In the regions, raids and inspections are carried out, laboratories take samples and determine the level of contamination.
Environmental improvements can't happen with a single click – at the wave of a magic wand. The long-term activities of enterprises, emissions and discharges, waste, the increased number of vehicles and the private sector have played a deplorable role. This is a long and painstaking work, depending not only on the actions of one central body. But first of all, and from each person. As they say, " clean is not where they clean, but where they do not litter."
So, let's sum up the results of 2020. Despite the pandemic, the past year for the Committee for Environmental Regulation and Control, as well as for the territorial departments of Ecology, was fruitful and full of events - in the industry and public sphere.
The main achievement of this year was the establishment of contact and constructive dialogue with the public.
For the first time, the Committee held a meeting with eco-activists, social activists and volunteers from all regions. Each region has its own eco - ambassador activists, who make a significant contribution to the protection of the environment.
16 roadmaps have been approved to improve the environmental situation in the regions of the republic. The number of online meetings with the population, eco-activists, and the media has increased. With the participation of the public, raid measures were carried out, as a result of which 148 landfills were liquidated, 11 administrative fines were issued. About 25 thousand people were involved in these events.
In total, 1022 environmental inspections were carried out in the republic (in 2019 – 2150). The decrease is due to quarantine measures in the country. At the same time, the quality of inspections has improved. The Committee identified and stopped more than 2.5 thousand environmental violations, of which more than 1.5 thousand regulations were fulfilled.
More than 1 thousand adm were collected from enterprises that committed violations. fines in the amount of 253.64 million tenge and more than five hundred orders in the amount of 1255.3 million tenge.
Administrative and civil cases on the suspension of economic activities of individuals and legal entities were also considered in court. The decision of the court satisfied the claim 73. For the rest of the claims, the violations committed were brought into compliance with the requirements of the law and settled in a pre-trial manner.
Control, violations, inspections and fines are still not the main indicator of the Committee's work, but rather a mechanism for environmental regulation. Improving the quality of the environment in the regions is the goal that drives environmentalists who are concerned about the state of the ecosystem in the country.
As for emissions to the environment, in comparison with 2019, the standards for emissions and discharges of pollutants have been reduced by more than 80 thousand tons and 14 thousand tons, respectively. Meanwhile, there is an increase in waste disposal. This is largely due to the dynamics of the development of economic sectors, the increase in the capacity of existing and the commissioning of new enterprises.
At the same time, the Committee and departments, when issuing permits to enterprises for emissions into the environment, pay special attention to their implementation of environmental protection measures. If they are not carried out, they will incur a violation and a fine, up to the suspension of their activities.
One of the main environmental problems is the unauthorized disposal of waste, both by the population and enterprises. Therefore, the year 2020 was also remembered for the fruitful work of the Ministry of Ecology with JSC "NC "Kazakhstan Garysh Sapary". Thanks to joint cooperation, 7147 identified unauthorized waste disposal sites were eliminated.
In order to quickly resolve the emerging natural dumps, the launch of a hotline was initiated. Kazakhstanis have already noted the convenience of this service and will actively send information with photos and video materials from anywhere in the country to vatsap. During this period, the hotline received 1109 requests, thanks to which 742 landfills were eliminated.
During the year, inspections were carried out on large enterprises of the first category, including all branches of Kazzinc LLP, Atyrau Chemical Plant, KMK Munai JSC, Aksu Ferroalloy Plant, Kaspiy Cement LLP, etc. All of them have been issued fines and orders to eliminate the environmental violations committed.
In general, 125 violations of environmental legislation were taken and stopped following the appeals of individuals and legal entities.
One of the main sources of air pollution, in addition to industry, is the private sector with stove heating and motor transport. Currently, work has begun on the gasification of megacities-Almaty and Nur-Sultan, the transfer of vehicles to an eco-friendly form-electric vehicles and landscaping.
However, the most important event of the past year was the signing of the new Environmental Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, aimed at reducing the level of environmental pollution through the introduction of the best available technologies at enterprises, etc. Currently, the law is being clarified in the regions with the participation of the public and the media.
The Chairman of the Committee, Zulfukhar Zholdasov, gave a number of instructions to the departments.
"Environmentalists have plenty of work ahead of them. We are open to the public, our common task is to improve the environment in the republic as much as possible, working for the benefit of the population and the health of the future generation," the chairman stressed.

 

Press Service
Committee for Environmental Regulation
and Control of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan