Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Agriculture has decided not to support a project by inventor Altay Ainabek aimed at bringing artificial rain over the Aral Sea to revive it. At a recent government briefing, the deputy minister for agriculture, Azat Sultanov, answered journalists’ questions about public interest in the project.

Sultanov said that the decision not to fund the project is related to environmental and legal issues. Firstly, artificially inducing precipitation could negatively affect the ecosystems and natural resources of the region where the experiment will be conducted, leading to unintended consequences and environmental harm.

In addition, according to Sultanov, the legality and legitimacy of using such technologies is questionable. The agriculture ministry does not yet have a scientific conclusion and does not have sufficient experience in this area. These factors make it impossible to finance such projects from the state budget.

The deputy minister added: “We have researched the law many times. Specialists from abroad have already come to us with questions. You probably know that in Mangistau and West Kazakhstan regions 2-3 years ago, there were problems with water. Then, it was suggested to cause precipitation to make it rain. However, there are several aspects to this problem. On the one hand, there are environmental issues; it’s nature. Even though it rained in one place, it can cause harm in another.”

In 2021, artificially inducing rain was tested for the first time in Mangistau. The sprinkler system works using Clear Sky Manager technology.

However, a little later, it became known that the installations affected the amount of rainfall. Abnormal rains led to floods and river overflows in the traditionally arid region, so the experiment was halted.