During the period after the Forth Meeting of the Parties of the Aarhus Convention, social and ecological situation in the country continued to get worse. Materials published by the state officials, independent researchers, and international organizations serve an evidence to this.
The main trends which define the social and ecological situation in the country are:
– economic growth based on increase of extraction of natural resources;
– increase of dependency of the economy of the country on raw material sectors;
– deteriorating condition of water resources;
– increasing pollution of soil and atmosphere;
– growth of sickness rate caused by environmental pollution;
– continuing deterioration of the state environmental protection system;
– weakening of legislation in favor of polluters;
– failure to follow obligations of the international and national legislation by the state authorities of all levels;
– high level of corruption;
– limitation of public access to the national natural resources;
– restriction of public access to environmental information, decision-making process, and justice in the matters related to the environment;
– massive violations of human rights on favorable environment.More details:
Social and Ecological Situation in Kazakhstan: Facts and Numbers (Green Salvation Herald 2014. For the Fifth Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention).