Kazakhstan
With 15 million people spread over 2,7 million square kilometres Kazakhstan is a sparsely populated country – there are only 5.57 inhabitants per sq km. The country has borders with China, Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
Kazakhstan is resource-rich, especially oil and gas, resulting in a rapid GDP growth since 2000. The booming economy has made Kazakhstan the top target country for working migrants in the region and put it at 9th place worldwide.
While the resource richness ensures that only 19% of the population live below the poverty line, people’s wellbeing is unevenly distributed in the country. Kazakhstan still receives foreign aid, while 55% of the population are supplied with drinking water through a central water and sanitation system (CWSS). The rural population in particular suffers from poor access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
The country needs to manage considerable environmental problems from chemical and radioactive military waste dumps to dried-up riverbeds, high soil salinity and water and soil pollution from agricultural pesticide use.
Having about half of the Aral Sea within its borders, Kazakhstan also inherited one of the world’s biggest man-made environmental disasters. The sea’s Northern part, the so-called Small Lake, however witnessed some limited recovery over the last years and now supports a limited number of families.
WECF started working in three rural areas to improve water and sanitation access through ecological sanitation, water management systems and organic agriculture.
Related Projects
Support of climate protection via sustainable energy by training and capacity building of local partner NGOs in Caucasus and Central Asia and networking between them
„Förderung des Klimaschutzes durch nachhaltige Energie mittels Training, Kapazitätsausbau und Vernetzung lokaler NRO-Partner im Kaukasus und in Zentralasien“
04.11.2010
Empowerment & Local Action (ELA) Kazakhstan
Building the capacity of poor local communities in rural areas in Kazakhstan
19.04.2010
Empowerment & Local Action (ELA)
Building the capacity of poor local communities in rural areas
19.04.2010
Abestos and POPs in Kazakhstan
Civil society and sound hazardous waste management, asbestos and POPs, in Kazakhstan
15.04.2010 | WECF Project
International Year of Sanitation
Safe and affordable sustainable sanitation at the top of the European political agenda during the International Year of Sanitation 2008
13.04.2010
