Kazakhstan: Country Environmental Analysis

This document brings together analysis that underpins the country strategies and assistance programs the Asian Development Bank formulates with its member countries, with a specific emphasis on environmental management alongside the institution’s strengthened focus on poverty alleviation. It provides a country environmental analysis of Kazakhstan, describing post-independence conditions and highlighting water management, land degradation, energy inefficiency and air pollution, inadequate municipal and industrial waste disposal, biodiversity pressures, and unresolved transboundary challenges, especially in water and energy coordination. The document reviews policy, legislation, institutions, financing, and public participation, and notes that international and regional commitments have expanded faster than implementation capacity. It also examines links between environmental degradation, fiscal burdens, and poverty, particularly in rural areas.