Status of Government Decree on Nature Reserve for Caspian Seals

On June 05, 2024, the public discussion of the Government of Kazakhstan’s draft Decree on Creation of State Nature Reserve for Conservation of Caspian Seal Population was completed. This protected area will be under the jurisdiction of Fisheries Committee, the Ministry of Agriculture RK.

According to this draft document, the total area (including sea waters and land of Mangistau and Atyrau regions) of the nature reserve is 109,558.04 ha, protective zone – 69,839.62 ha. Fisheries Committee is tasked with approving the reserve boundaries. Financing of the natural reserve will be from the federal budget.

The changes and additions made by this draft decree to other the Government of Kazakhstan’s regulations clarify: 108,632.31 hа of the total area will be in Mangistau region, 925.73 ha – in Atyrau region.

The full text of the draft regulatory legal act and the results of the public discussion (in Russian) can be found on Open Normative Legal Acts Portal.  An online discussion of the draft document is to be on June 17.

Note:
According to Kazakhstan legislation. the state natural reserve is a specially protected area with the status of an environmental and scientific institution, including terrestrial and aquatic ecological systems, intended for the protection, conservation, restoration and maintenance of biological diversity in natural complexes and associated natural and historical and cultural objects. The territory of a nature reserve is divided into 2 zones with different types of protection and use regimes. The reserve regime zone is a core zone intended for the long-term conservation of genetic resources, biological diversity, ecological systems and landscapes, having sufficient dimensions to achieve such goals. The buffer zone is an area used for conducting environmentally oriented economic activities and sustainable reproduction of biological resources.
Other provisions on state nature reserves are set out in articles 50-53, the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated July 7, 2006 No. 175 “On Specially Protected Areas”.

 

In the photo above: a Caspian seal pup, the Northern Caspian, Kazakhstan.
Photo by Caspian Seals Research and Rehabilitation Center.

 

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