In August 2009 the Republic of Kazakhstan launched the project Strengthening Public Participation through Promotion of the PRTR Protocol and Creation of a Joint Pollutant Release and Transfer Register in Ust-Kamenogorsk [About Project] . Within the frameworks of the project public environmental organizations established an electronic pilot pollutant release and transfer register [Electronic PRTR].

The support of OSCE Center in Astana and assistance of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan enabled the implementation of the project .
The pilot pollutant release and transfer register (PRTR) was compiled upon state statistical reporting provided by enterprises of the East Kazakhstan oblast.

This activity is the first of its kind to be launched in Kazakhstan. This brand new  project could form a basis for future registers of different types compliant with the principles of the Aarhuss Convention and the PRTR Protocol.

The project demonstrates the capacity of Kazakhstan to implement the Aarhuss Convention and in the early stage will help to create conditions and define challenges of fuller PRTR compilation in the future.

Besides recommendations will be developed for the Ministry of Environmental Protection within the frameworks of this project to bring the environmental legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan (in particular, mandatory reporting forms and their submission procedure) in line with the Protocol requirements on report submission for collection of data for the pollutant release and transfer register.

The project was joined by the European ECO-Forum, «Greenwomen» Analytical Environmental Agency, «Ecomir» Chemical Safety Center, Center for Assistance to Sustainable Development, industrial enterprises of East Kazakhstan Oblast, state institutions of East Kazakhstan Oblast, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

News

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On November 16-17 a seminar was held in Ust-Kamenogorsk. The seminar was attended by representatives of industrial enterprises of the East Kazakhstan Oblast, the territorial environmental protection department, European Eco-Forum, and non-governmental organizations. The participants studied the environmental situation in the East Kazakhstan oblast and results of an opinion poll on access  to information and public confidence in environmental pollution data supplied by industrial enterprises. Also, the pilot register compiled upon the statistical reporting provided by enterprises of the East Kazakhstan Oblast was demonstrated. The training in register compilation was held as well. Seminar participants discussed possible approaches to establishing a national PRTR  applying available experience of the countries and introducing a pilot register of the East Kazakhstan Oblast, steps required to monitor persistent organic pollutants at enterprises, and other issues.