«Английский язык»

Now, however, this natural bounty is in jeopardy. Although Kazakhstan's population and its impact on the land are comparatively low; its biodiversity is seriously threatened in a number of ways. The alteration of the land that occured in the 1960's, when Khruschev ordered the country to begin cultivating corn on a mass scale, caused widespread damage. Rivers that fed steppe lakes were dammed and agricultural cultivation of the steppes, floodplains and marshes forced changes in natural ecosystems, exacerbated by the use of chemical pesticides, many already banned in the West. In addition, Kazakh industry generally does not employ any emission-control equipment or attempt cleanup of the environmental damage it causes. As a result, many natural species are now officially considered rare or endangered.

The country's economic crisis had led to a lessening of the human impact on natural ecosystems due to a decline in agriculture and industrial production. The situation could, however, take a rapid turn for the worse since the largely unregulated transition to a market economy has encouraged extensive commercil use of many plant and animal species including the export of natural products used for medicinal purposes such as antilope horn; the sale of rare insects in demand by collectors and the capture of birds of prey.

Unfortunately, no comprehensive natural conservation program exists at the present time. The isolated projects that are under way are targeted at regions of environmental crisis, such as the Aral Sea and the area around Semipalatinsk nuclear testing ground. Governmental structures charged with developing a national conservation strategy appear slow and unmotivated. The state, occupied with solving serious economic problems, cannot pay adequate attention to nature conservation.

In Kazakhstan no mass movement for nature protection exists as it does in western countries, but a few nongovernmental groups are beginning to form and take action. The activities of nongovermental organizations which are occuring in more and more cities around the country raise hopes for improvement of the nature conservation climate in Kazakhstan.

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