Kyrgyzstan Environment - The Times Of Central Asia

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World Bank Boosts Kyrgyzstan’s Agricultural Productivity and Climate Resilience

The World Bank has announced funding of $30 million to help boost the productivity and climate resilience of Kyrgyzstan’s dairy and horticulture agri-food clusters. The project will be complemented by a $5 million grant from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program. “Recognizing agriculture as a cornerstone of the Kyrgyz Republic's economy, the World Bank prioritizes the sector alongside energy and water in its new 2024-2028 Country Partnership Framework. The new project marks the beginning of a series of initiatives designed to support the Cabinet of Ministers' vision for a modernized, competitive, and climate-resilient agricultural sector," reported Tatiana Proskuryakova, World Bank Regional Director for Central Asia. Running until 2029, the initiative will help producers, processors, and other value chain participants to improve the quality and volume of their produce, access to markets through investment loans, training and capacity building, seed system enhancement, breeding, and information management. It will also focus on enhancing climate adaptation and mitigation through the promotion of climate-smart technologies as well as the employment of digital technology for accessing market information. The project will directly support 8,000 beneficiaries including individual farmers and producers, producer groups, small and medium processors, and other value chain participants in the agri-food clusters of dairy and horticulture. Indirect beneficiaries, numbering 20,000, will comprise farming communities and households of loan and training recipients, in addition to members of broader rural communities who will be afforded better jobs and opportunities to generate income.

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Construction of Waste Processing Plant Launched in Bishkek

On 29 March, Akylbek Japarov, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, participated in a ceremony to mark the construction of a plant to produce electricity coupled with the disposal of solid household waste in the city of Bishkek. He was joined by the Mayor of Bishkek, Aibek Junushaliev, the Ambassador of China to the Kyrgyz Republic, Du Dewen, and the director of the Chinese company that will construct the plant. With reference to the fact that in recent years, environmental issues have been of pressing concern in the capital, he stated, “The landfill in Bishkek needed a plant for processing household waste… This project is (therefore of utmost importance).” The new plant, due for completion in November 2025 and incorporating waste incinerators, power generators, and cleaning systems, will process approximately 850 tons of solid waste per day. Japarov also reported that the Cabinet of Ministers will prioritize the construction of waste processing and incineration plants in seven of the country’s regions. A large waste incineration plant is currently being built in the city of Jalal-Abad, and a Belarusian company has begun construction of a waste incineration plant in Karakol.

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Kyrgyzstan’s First Tire Recycling Plant to Produce Crumb Rubber for Sports Grounds

On March 26th, Akylbek Japarov, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, visited a tire recycling plant in the city of Tokmok in northern Kyrgyzstan. The Kumtor Gold Company has invested 19.2 million US dollars in an enterprise which uses German technology to re-tread tires of any size, and aims to increase the company’s efficiency by creating new sources of income. The plant, scheduled to open at the end of 2024 and currently operating in test mode, employs about 200 people and recycles more than 2 tons of old tires per hour. A key goal of the plant is to produce surface material from crumb rubber for use in children's sports areas at home and abroad. The initiative was welcomed by Mr Japarov who during his visit expressed the government’s readiness to install it in children’s playgrounds in schools and parks across the country.

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Russian Atomic Energy Company to Build Renewable Energy Facilities in Kyrgyzstan

On March 26th, at the 13th ATOMEXPO 2024 International Forum in Sochi, Russia, Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Energy and Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom announced joint investment in the construction of renewable energy facilities in Kyrgyzstan with a capacity of up to 1 GW. The agreement was signed by Grigory Nazarov, General Director of the Wind Energy Division of Rosatom; Talaibek Baigaziev, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Kyrgyz Republic, and Dmitry Konstantinov General Director of Rosatom’s office in Kyrgyzstan. According to Rosatom, the first stage of the project will involve the implementation of a pilot project for the construction of a wind power plant with a capacity of 100 MW in Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul region. The Russian company has already installed a mast for wind measurement and is undertaking surveys on the location of wind farms. The second stage will include the development of additional sites for renewable energy facilities with a total capacity of up to 900 MW.

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Montana Farmer Pleads Guilty to Cloning Endangered Kyrgyz Argali Sheep

As reported by the Daily Montanan an 80-year-old farmer from Montana, Arthur "Jack" Schubarth, has pleaded guilty to federal charges for violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits the sale, transportation and purchase of wild animals between American states. In 2013, Schubarth illegally brought part of an argali sheep which had been killed in the Kyrgyz mountains into the U.S. and paid a laboratory to create cloned embryos from the animal's DNA. The embryos were then implanted into sheep on his farm and in time, he succeeded in raising a genetically pure argali, which he named Montana's Mountain King. Used to impregnate other sheep, the ram's sperm produced fairly large hybrids. In a statement to the paper, assistant U.S. Attorney General Todd Kim said, "It was a bold plan to create large hybrids of sheep for sale and hunting as trophies... By implementing this scheme, Schubarth violated international law and the Lacey Act, which protect the viability and health of local animal populations," According to investigators, Schubarth conspired with five individuals to sell hybrid offspring to Texas and Minnesota under the guise of domestic sheep from New Mexico. The sheep hybrids led to healthy profits in the field of hunting. In 2020, a farmer sold one of Mountain King's sons and 11 sheep containing a quarter of his genetics for $23,000 after obtaining a fake export license. The plea agreement states that the market value of all such sheep sold by Schubarth reached half a million dollars. The Argali, also known as a Marco Polo, is the largest ram on earth. Reaching up to two meters in length, with a height at the withers of 120 centimetres, an adult can weigh 180 kilograms. The breed is also valued for its large, curled horns and in Kyrgyzstan, is protected as an endangered species. However, once a year, authorities issue about 70-80 licenses to cull the population; an activity popular with foreign hunters and a lucrative source of income for the state. Whilst the fine for illegal killing of an argali is around $15,000, the official rate charged to licenced hunters is around $10,000. Speaking to the Times of Central Asia, Askar Davletbayev, an ecologist with the Kyrgyz National Academy of Sciences, stated, "According to the law, one percent of the total argali population can be shot but we try to shoot no more than 0.5 percent. According to the data, there are now about 19,000 of these animals in the country. Since the situation isn't critical, the current level of hunting can be maintained." During the autumn hunting season, many argali living on the Sarychat-Ertash Nature Reserve in the Issyk-Kul region migrate to areas around the nearby Kumtor gold mine. Scientists explain this as a way in which the animals try to protect themselves from both hunters and predators. Because the gold mine's territory cannot be accessed without approval, hunting is forbidden. Furthermore, since the local dump provides ample food for predators, the argali are left in peace. On more than one...

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Russia to Allocate Over $23 Million for Remediation of Uranium Tailings in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyz members of parliament have approved an agreement between Kyrgyzstan and Russia on funds for the remediation of sites contaminated with uranium tailings. The ratification corresponds to a previous deal by the Kyrgyz government and Russian state company Rosatom under the framework of a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) program to rehabilitate territories affected by uranium production. Kyrgyz Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Azamat Mambetov, speaking at the session of the Kyrgyz parliament, described the details of the agreement with Russia regarding the uranium tailings ponds. "At our request, the Russian Federation will allocate an additional 2.141 million rubles ($23.1 million). According to the draft agreement submitted for approval, these funds will be used for work and delivery of equipment, [and] they are exempt from taxes. Five facilities in Kyrgyzstan will be rehabilitated," Mambetov said. According to the deputy minister, these are three tailing dumps left over from uranium mining in western Kyrgyzstan, and two tailing dumps in the south of the country. According to some sources, the first Soviet atomic bomb was filled with uranium mined in the south of Kyrgyzstan in the Batken region. It should be noted that the tailings dumps in Chatkal district (western Kyrgyzstan) currently threaten the ecology of not only Kyrgyzstan, but also of neighboring Uzbekistan. The Chatkal River, which flows near the tailings dams, is a transboundary river that flows into one of Uzbekistan's reservoirs -- and from which Tashkent and the Tashkent region draw their drinking water. Mr. Mambetov said that today the reclamation of uranium tailings sites in southern Issyk-Kul region and in Naryn region is almost completed. When the interstate program for reclamation of territories was drawn up in 2013, these tailings were considered the most problematic. According to Rosatom, 450,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste were concentrated in the Naryn region when work began. The work there is complicated by the fact that there is the risk of landslides in the area of the tailing dump. However, Russian specialists promise to fully complete the reclamation process by August 2024. The volume of accumulated radioactive waste in the Issyk-Kul region is 150 thousand cubic meters. Uranium mining there was conducted from 1952 to 1966. After the mining was completed, the surface of the site was covered with a special layer of soil. But over time, the ground has been eroded by surface waters and the site began to pose a threat to the local environment once again. The works there should also be completed this year. Recall that Lake Issyk-Kul, located just a few hundred meters from the facility, is Kyrgyzstan's main tourist attraction. According to the Kyrgyz Ministry of Emergency Situations, there are 92 burial sites of toxic and radioactive substances in the country. Of these, 23 tailings sites contain uranium elements, while the remaining ones contain radioactive rock residues, heavy metals and cyanide. The total volume of poisonous and hazardous substances is 2.9 million cubic meters. As reported by Rosatom, there are currently more than 40 large legacy nuclear...