The ecological condition of lake Balkhash.

2. The status of the Caspian sea.

The problem of the inland lake Balkhash is of crucial importance for all the arid zones of Central Asia. If after the Aral sea the Balhash lake will disappear, a huge territory of Central Asia will appear in a zone of progressive and irreversible desertification. The consequences of these processes are unpredictable, as the world has not yet met such an ecological disaster. The study of the lake and its geological history is therefore of extreme importance.

In human history, the lake Balkhash plays a vital role: with a length of more than 500 km, it divides the nomadic pastoral areas of the Central Kazakhstan uplands from the marginal piedmont regions. In the historical plan all the largest nomadic civilizations, such as the Mongols for example, have always occupied both areas of Central Kazakhstan and Semirechie. They both served as arteries of the main historical migrations, therefore the historical study of lake Balkhash is an integral part of the understanding of the evolution of the landscapes of the arid zones of Kazakhstan and of the nomadic cultures closely related to them. The Kazkakh-Japanese researches lead under the management of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature and successfully directed by the manager of international level Jumpei Kubota under a program of complex researches, supervised by the well known Japanese geologist K.Endo, have shown that in a 4 years period, new useful data about the ecological changes of the Balkhash could be obtained. The complex study of the Balkhash region has also a big applied value in respect of the study of the redistribution of water resources of the transboundary river Ili and the influences of this redistribution in the ecological conditions of Balkhash region. The complex geoarcheological international (Kazakhstan, Japan, the USA, China) study of the Balkhash started in 2006 has collected new interesting information on the geology of this region. The Japan-Kazakhstan researches of the northern and eastern shorelines the lake Balkhash through different kinds of analyses provided data on the climatic change, on the evolution of the structure of its microfauna, its salinity, speed of sedimentation, etc. enabling a more detailed historical reconstruction of the lake. The researches are still going on and all the analyses haven’t been processed, the referred data are therefore still unachieved results.

Quaternary history of the Balkhash basin The Balkhash lake and the Prebalkhash region constitute an integral part of the Late Alpine orogenic megasystems of Central Asia – Eurasia (Aubekerov et alt, 2010). This structure can be divided by tectono-geomorphological elements and geological development in two subsystems: the first is the southern mountain-foothills region in the background of the Balkhash-Аlakol depression, the second are the Central Kazakhstan uplands. The Balkhash in its modern location divides precisely these two subsystems in a "cicatricial" zone.

During the last 2000 years, the environmental, landscape and climatic changes of the western and northern littoral of the Balkhash have caused its specific settlement pattern (Fig. 3). In general lines, it can be said that if the northern Prebalkash was occupied mainly by nomadic civilizations, the southern region, situated between Balkhash and the mountains and enjoying a rather wide variety of ecological conditions, was occupied by mixed pastoral-agricultural civilizations.

2. Caspian Sea Pollution a vital Ecological Problem
The pollution of the Caspian Sea, partially as a result of hydrocarbons production, is one of the most serious environmental problems facing Kazakhstan today, the Minister of Environmental Protection, Nurlan Iskakov said on September 6th in Astana during the KazEnergy 1st Eurasian Energy Forum entitled, the Oil and Gas Sector and Energy.
He noted that important causes of pollution related to the oil and gas industry include the flaring of gas, abandoned oil wells, and production-related emergencies.
Mr. Iskakov emphasized that "in some cases, the ministry should enact highly strict ecological requirements in order to achieve a balance in the use of natural resources and the preservation of the ecological system, and to take administrative or in some cases, legal actions to solve certain problems".
He added that in the first half of 2006, the Committee of Nature Protection and the MEP had carried out more than 449 inspections of subsoil users on their adherence to ecological legislation. As a result of the checks, 285 ecological violations were discovered, and 183 administrative penalties were imposed for a total amount of 94.6 million KZT. During the same time period of last year, 223 inspections were carried out, and 200 violations were subsequently found.
Iskakov also said that for the most serious violations, 10 severe fines were levied for a total amount of 246.6 million KZT, 13 enterprises were ordered to halt their operations, and 2 criminal cases were filed, according to Interfax-Kazakhstan.

The Caspian Environment Programme (CEP) performed a Caspian Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA). A TDA is a scientific and technical assessment of the water-related environmental issues and problems, their causes, and impacts, both environmental and economic, at national, regional and global levels, taking into account the social-economic, political and institutional systems within each riparian country.

The Caspian Sea major environmental issues include:

The Caspian Sea is rich in marine fish of commercial value. The Sea is world famous due to the presence of a unique specie of sturgeon which is of commercial value due to its black caviar and very tasty meat (link to Biodiversity, Commercially valuable species, Fish). At its peak, the Caspian supplied more than 80% of the world’s sturgeon stock. These fish species, which are living fossils, are now on the verge of extinction due to reduction of reproduction grounds, overfishing and water pollution by pesticides, heavy metals and oil products. In recent years, sturgeon landings have decreased dramatically: from 30,000 tons in 1985 to only 5,672 tons in 1995. A quota system, introduced together with a temporary ban on pelagic fishing, does not appear to have been effective in reviving the dwindling fish populations. The majority of sturgeon population is now supported artificially. While fishing methods have clearly become more efficient and overfishing has occurred, one of the most severe threat to the sturgeon and other anadromous species is thought to arise from the construction of numerous dams on the Volga and Kura rivers. These dams bar fish from their primary spawning areas. Due to high levels of water pollution, sturgeons suffer from various diseases such as hepatoxical hypoxiya (muscle blistering). Poaching has dramatically increased during recent years and is thought to be among the main causes for the population decline of the sturgeon.

Protection of Biodiversity

Pollution Control