Kazakhstan Environment - The Times Of Central Asia

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Toktogul Reservoir

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan Agree on Toktogul Water Releases

Energy and water ministers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan signed a trilateral protocol in Tashkent on May 7 establishing agreed water release volumes and schedules from the Toktogul Reservoir for the next two months. The Toktogul Reservoir plays a central role in maintaining water and energy stability across Central Asia. The Toktogul Hydropower Plant, located on the Naryn River, the main tributary of the Syr Darya, is Kyrgyzstan’s largest power station and supplies around 40% of the country’s electricity. The reservoir serves a dual purpose: generating electricity for Kyrgyzstan while regulating water flows essential for downstream agriculture in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. During winter, Kyrgyzstan typically increases electricity generation to meet heating demand, often lowering reservoir levels and reducing the amount of water available for irrigation during the following spring and summer. According to Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry, the newly signed protocol removes uncertainty for farmers in southern Kazakhstan at the start of the agricultural season and allows both Kazakh and Uzbek farmers to begin irrigation activities on schedule. To ensure stable water supplies throughout the remainder of the growing season, the three countries agreed to continue coordination in stages. The next ministerial meeting is scheduled for mid-June in Bishkek, where officials plan to finalize water release schedules for the critical summer months of July, August, and September. The agreement highlights the continued functioning of the region’s interstate water-energy exchange mechanism. Coordination over summer irrigation flows was preceded by extensive cooperation during the winter season. From September 2025 to April 2026, Kazakhstan supplied more than 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to Kyrgyzstan, helping the upstream country reduce winter water releases for heating and preserve additional reserves in the Toktogul Reservoir for summer irrigation needs in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. According to Kyrgyzstan’s Deputy Energy Minister Altynbek Rysbekov, the Toktogul Reservoir held 7 billion cubic meters of water on April 1, 2026, down from 9.14 billion cubic meters on January 1 after the winter heating season. The reservoir’s so-called “dead water level,” the threshold below which turbines can no longer operate, stands at 6.5 billion cubic meters.

Kapchagay Reservoir

Kazakhstan’s Kapchagay Reservoir Reaches 98% Capacity

Kazakhstan’s Kapchagay Reservoir in the Almaty Region is now 98% full, holding 18.04 billion cubic meters of water, according to the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation. The reservoir collects water from the transboundary Ili River, which originates in China, and regulates water flow into Lake Balkhash, Kazakhstan’s largest lake. During the most recent non-growing season, approximately 4 billion cubic meters of water were released from the reservoir into Lake Balkhash. Officials say the near-full capacity of the reservoir will ensure sufficient irrigation supplies for agricultural land in the Akdala and Shengeldy rural districts of the Almaty Region. “We maintain constant communication with our Chinese colleagues on transboundary river issues, including the Ili River. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the two countries, farmers in the Almaty Region have been provided with a stable supply of irrigation water for the third consecutive year,” said Seilbek Nurymbetov, chairman of the ministry’s Committee for Regulation, Protection, and Use of Water Resources. The Times of Central Asia previously reported that the Kapchagay Reservoir reached full capacity in August 2024 for the first time in a decade. Created in 1970 as an artificial lake stretching roughly 100 kilometers in length and up to 25 kilometers wide in some areas, the reservoir has a total capacity of more than 18 billion cubic meters of water. The reservoir was originally designed to regulate the flow of the Ili River before it reaches Lake Balkhash. Today, it also serves irrigation, fish farming, and recreational purposes. Located about an hour’s drive from Almaty, its beaches are a popular destination for tourists and local residents. Three of Kazakhstan’s major rivers, the Irtysh, Ili, and Emel, originate in China. The Ili River alone provides about 70% of the water flowing into Lake Balkhash. Located approximately 280 kilometers northwest of Almaty, Lake Balkhash is the world’s fifteenth-largest lake.

Electric Vehicles

Kazakhstan to Introduce Green License Plates for Electric Vehicles

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs has backed a proposal by Mazhilis deputy Arman Kalykov to introduce green license plates for electric vehicles (EVs). Kalykov, a member of the Mazhilis Committee on Ecology and Nature Management, said separate identification for EVs is needed for traffic monitoring, road police checks, and access control. According to Kalykov, the measure is particularly relevant in environmentally protected areas. In the Shymbulak area near Almaty, for example, vehicles with internal combustion engines face restrictions, while EVs and emergency transport are allowed to enter. EVs are also allowed to remain in residential zones while running, while conventional vehicles are prohibited from parking in spaces equipped with charging stations. “When entering specially protected natural areas, it is necessary to quickly identify an electric vehicle. Traffic police inspectors also face difficulties with this identification,” Kalykov said. Deputy Interior Minister Sanzhar Adilov said the ministry is already working on the necessary regulatory amendments. “There is an internationally recognized practice of using green-colored plates. We have reviewed this issue and support it. Once the law is adopted, we will approve the relevant regulations,” he said. During the discussion, Adilov also supported a proposal by lawmaker Bakytzhan Bazarbek to consider introducing criminal liability for the use of counterfeit license plates. Bazarbek noted that while current legislation already imposes criminal penalties for the production and sale of fake license plates, their use is punishable only by an administrative fine. “A person caught using fake license plates receives a fine of only 15 monthly calculation indexes, about $127. Perhaps it is time to elevate this offense to criminal liability,” the lawmaker said. Adilov acknowledged that the proposal merits further consideration. “A state vehicle registration plate is an important element of traffic regulation and road safety. Therefore, we are taking your proposal into consideration,” he said. The Times of Central Asia previously reported authorities in Kazakhstan are considering lowering speed limits in populated areas.

TCA Interviews

UNEP Interview: From Space, Central Asia’s Methane Challenge Comes Into Focus

Satellites are changing the way the world sees methane. What was once an invisible leak from a well, flare, pipeline, landfill, or coal mine can now be detected from space, traced to a specific site, and sent to governments and companies for action. A new analysis by the United Nations Environment Programme’s International Methane Emissions Observatory puts that system to the test. Its Methane Alert and Response System, known as MARS, uses 35 satellite instruments to identify major human-caused methane “super-emitters” and notify those responsible. UNEP says the system has already enabled 41 mitigation cases in 11 countries, covering sources estimated to have released 1.2 million tonnes of methane. For Central Asia, the findings are especially relevant. UNEP’s new data includes a rolling list of the world’s 50 largest satellite-detected methane sources, covering oil and gas, coal, and waste, and shows where rapid action may be possible. Several of those sources are linked to Turkmenistan’s oil and gas sector, placing the region firmly inside a global debate over methane transparency, climate responsibility, and whether satellite alerts can lead to action on the ground. Of the 50 sources featured in the latest UNEP/IMEO snapshot, China has the largest number, while Turkmenistan stands out sharply for Central Asia, with the second-largest individual source and four of the top ten. Methane is shorter-lived than carbon dioxide, but far more powerful in the near term. That makes cutting large leaks one of the fastest ways to slow global warming. The harder question, as UNEP’s latest data makes clear, is no longer only where the leaks are, but who responds when they are found. On April 30, UNEP/IMEO presented the new MARS findings, highlighting the growing role of satellite-based monitoring in identifying major methane sources and pressing governments and companies to act. The Times of Central Asia spoke with Meghan Demeter, MARS Programme Manager, International Methane Emissions Observatory, UNEP. TCA: What does the new MARS data reveal about Central Asia specifically that may surprise readers? Demeter: The latest MARS data products depict the region as one with growing engagement and significant mitigation potential. Responses to MARS notifications are increasing, supported in particular by designated national focal points who play a key role in coordinating follow-up with operators. Based on the published 2025 data alone, the response rate across Central Asia currently stands at 22%. Managing a high volume of alerts requires more effort to achieve very high response rates compared to countries that receive only a handful of notifications. Encouragingly, the region has already recorded nearly 20 mitigation cases, underscoring the strong potential for emissions reductions when large methane sources are identified and addressed. TCA: Why does Central Asia matter in the global methane debate, even if it is not the world’s largest methane-emitting region? Demeter: Across Central Asia, looking at the 2025 data alone, UNEP’s International Methane Emissions Observatory, through the Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), detected and notified 298 emission sources from the oil and gas sector. While satellites detect only a fraction of global methane emissions, satellites are highly effective at identifying so-called “super-emitters,” methane emission events so large they can be detected from space. These represent opportunities where action can deliver the greatest and fastest climate wins, while also catalyzing broader change. Regarding the “top 50” list of emission events, 11 of these sources are located in Central Asia, all from...

Regional Ecological Summit

Opinion: The Regional Ecological Summit and the Making of a Central Asian Voice

On 22–24 April, Astana hosted the Regional Ecological Summit—a gathering of governments, international organizations, financial institutions, and civil society that marked a new level of ambition in Central Asia’s environmental diplomacy. Fifty-eight sessions were held across three days at a moment when Central Asia’s ecological agenda is becoming inseparable from its political and economic future. The opening ceremony was attended by the presidents of all five Central Asian states. The summit adopted the Astana Declaration on Ecological Solidarity in Central Asia and brought renewed attention to the need to reform the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS). Taken together, these developments signal more than procedural diplomacy. They point to growing political momentum. The region has never lacked shared history or channels of communication. Russian remains a practical language of intergovernmental exchange, and borders, economies, rivers, energy systems, and labor markets have tied these countries together long before contemporary climate diplomacy gave this interdependence a new vocabulary. For decades, much external analysis of Central Asia expected this interdependence to produce confrontation, particularly around water and energy. Those risks remain real. Yet the Astana summit showed a more complex trajectory. Climate change, biodiversity loss, water insecurity, land degradation, and food security are not separate national problems neatly contained within borders. Addressing them is becoming one of the fields through which regional coherence is being built. The significance of the Summit lies less in ceremonial language than in the consolidation of multiple ecological agendas into a visible diplomatic architecture. Through its panels and high-level discussions, the Summit placed Central Asia’s natural heritage not at the margins of development but at its center. Ecosystems, rivers, glaciers, mountains, and landscapes are not only environmental assets. They are conditions for prosperity, stability, and resilience. Kazakhstan’s chairmanship of IFAS reopened the question of whether the Fund, long criticized for its limitations, can be reworked rather than left as a symbol of failed regional environmental governance. Kazakhstan’s proposal for an International Water Organization should be read in the same frame: it is not merely a technical proposal about water governance but an attempt to move a Central Asian concern into the language of global institutional reform. Kyrgyzstan’s mountain agenda and Tajikistan’s glacier diplomacy also belong to this broader pattern. They are not just isolated national branding exercises. Together with Uzbekistan’s increasingly active regional posture, they form a wider mosaic: each country brings a distinct ecological priority, but these priorities are becoming legible as parts of one regional perspective, and its voice carries more weight when presented as such. This is particularly important in the current geopolitical moment. As larger powers turn inward, compete over corridors, or speak about Central Asia through the old grammar of influence, the region is attempting to define itself not as terrain for another “Great Game" but as a pole of its own. This does not mean distance from external partners. On the contrary, the United Nations was a strategic partner of the Summit, and many formats involved major international organizations, European...

Kazakhstan Wind Power

China Energy Begins Construction of Major Wind Power Plant in Kazakhstan

Construction has begun on a 500 MW wind power plant in Kazakhstan, with the project being developed by a Kazakh–Chinese joint venture, Karaganda Wind Power LLP. The investment agreement was signed in April 2026, and construction of the facility in the Osakarov district was officially launched later last month, according to regional authorities. The project involves the development of a 500 MW wind farm, with total investment estimated at $645 million. Annual electricity generation is expected to reach around 1.6 billion kWh of green energy, with some earlier estimates placing the figure higher. Commissioning is scheduled for 2029, and the project is projected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 1.3 million tons per year. “Construction of the station is one of the key strategic initiatives, reflecting the development of green energy, which President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has identified as a priority. This is an important event for the region: new capacity, technologies, and jobs,” said Karaganda region governor Yermaganbet Bulekpayev at the launch ceremony. The project includes the installation of around 60–65 wind turbines near the village of Saryozek, although final technical specifications have not been consistently confirmed. These are expected to be among the largest turbines deployed in Kazakhstan. Around 600 jobs are expected to be created during the construction phase, with permanent positions to follow once the plant becomes operational. “Next-generation wind turbines will be used in this project, and operational processes will be managed using artificial intelligence,” said Kairat Maksutov. The site was selected due to its strong and consistent wind conditions, particularly along the Osakarovka-Saryozek-Telman corridor, where a 150 MW wind project is already in operation. The project forms part of Kazakhstan’s broader push to expand renewable energy capacity, which currently stands at just 7% of its energy mixed. In December last year, China Energy Engineering Group also began construction of a 300 MW solar power plant in the Sauran district of the Turkestan region in southern Kazakhstan. The project, with an investment of about $320 million, is expected to be completed by the end of this year. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, China Energy International Group is also active in the Uzbekistan energy market.