Key sources of environmental information

The Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources annually publishes an integrated report on the state of the environment and environmental policy. With UNEP support, it has prepared several editions of its interactive indicator-based online version. The Ministry commissions the regular preparation of the National Environmental Atlas. The Information and Analytical Center for Environmental Protection jointly with Committee on Forests and Wildlife under the Ministry produce the environmental reports and maintains databases.

Kazhydromet publishes monthly to annual bulletins on air, water and soil quality, both for the whole and for selected areas, in print and online. Near real-time data from automated monitoring stations are available too.

Environmental (air emissions, water use, waste generation and use) and natural resource statistics (land-use, forests, wildlife, fish — sensu stricto falling outside of the domain of environmental statistics in Kazakhstan) are regularly published by the Bureau of Statistics under the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Also accessible are environmental indicators from the UNECE core-set.

State Fund of Environmental Information managed by the Information Analytical Centre of the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources provides on-request access to cadastres (registers) of natural resources and other environmental information, including the Pollution Release and Transfer Register. The Centre also maintains a dedicated web portal for Kazakhstan’s state of the Environment report.

Greenhouse gas emission data are not available directly from their holder JSC Jasyl Damu, however they are regularly reported to UNFCCC and are easily accessible there (the same is true for many other datasets reported to FAO, WMO as well as the secretariats of various other international organizations, processes and MEAs). The World Bank has supported the design of Kazakhstan’s greenhouse gas electronic reporting platform to facilitate corporate reporting and its verification.

The Institute of Geography and Water Security of the National Academy of Science has played a key role in the preparation of the National Environmental Atlas. Other parts of the Academy collect and systematise data on soils, glaciers, and endangered species data for the regularly published Red Data Book.

The network of national Aarhus centres maintains a large collection of electronic environmental information, including previous state of the environment reports.

The Open Government platform, initiated in 2013, publishes governmental agencies’ data in various areas including the environment — waste, biodiversity, fisheries, water and air quality, etc.

Earlier Kazakhstan provided IT support and overall coordination on the regional environmental exchange through a website of the Interstate Sustainable Development Commission (ICSD). The country hosts Regional Environmental Center and Regional Hydrological Center of Central Asia.

Kazakhstan’s environmental reporting, assessment and use of indicators are more advanced than in the neighbouring countries of Central Asia, and may serve as a basis for sharing knowledge and experience. In addition to national statistics, the Bureau of Statistics produces and makes available the core set of UNECE environmental indicators and OECD green economy indicators. In 2022, 46 UNECE indicators were available online along with extensive list of green economy indicators. In the 2021 UNECE SEIS performance review, Kazakhstan demonstrated top performance scores for most data streams, comparable to Sweden or Slovakia.