Photo by Marat Abilov©
Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev has held a field meeting on development of the Green Belt around Astana, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the President’s official website. During the meeting the President flew over the Green Belt, visited the forest planted in 2011 in Kyzylzhar forestry and checked on the forests planted in 1954 near Shubary village. During the briefing for the media Nazarbayev said that creation of the Green Belt around Astana had become the capital’s new priority. “We have built a beautiful capital that is a source of pride for all Kazakhstan citizens and a something all the visitors from abroad admire. Along with developing the city, I have set a task to plant forests around the capital. Many had thought that no forest will ever grow in these steppes. Experts complained that the soil was not good enough and planting would require huge efforts. But as we can see now, the forest is already there: 65 thousand hectares, including 14 thousand hectares inside the city. These trees are protecting us from dust in summer and blizzards and snowstorms in winters. The climate of our city has changed for the better as a result of the tree planting,” the President said. Forming the green woodland is an important and significant work, Nazarbayev said. “Kazakhstan has a territory of around 3 million square kilometers with many steppes and only 8-10 percent of it is covered with forests. If we plant the trees in every oblast every year, we will make Kazakhstan a green country,” he stressed. According to the President, every oblast, city, region have to attract people, especially young ones, to planting trees and taking care of them. According to the President’s press-service, the forests area in Astana’s suburb area will be expanded and will reach 101 thousand hectares by 2020. The green belt area currently makes 11.5 thousand hectares. The plan is to plant 286 thousand second-year seedlings this year and 1.1 million seedlings as part of the second stage of the project in 2014-2016.
Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev has held a field meeting on development of the Green Belt around Astana, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the President’s official website.
During the meeting the President flew over the Green Belt, visited the forest planted in 2011 in Kyzylzhar forestry and checked on the forests planted in 1954 near Shubary village.
During the briefing for the media Nazarbayev said that creation of the Green Belt around Astana had become the capital’s new priority. “We have built a beautiful capital that is a source of pride for all Kazakhstan citizens and a something all the visitors from abroad admire. Along with developing the city, I have set a task to plant forests around the capital. Many had thought that no forest will ever grow in these steppes. Experts complained that the soil was not good enough and planting would require huge efforts. But as we can see now, the forest is already there: 65 thousand hectares, including 14 thousand hectares inside the city. These trees are protecting us from dust in summer and blizzards and snowstorms in winters. The climate of our city has changed for the better as a result of the tree planting,” the President said.
Forming the green woodland is an important and significant work, Nazarbayev said. “Kazakhstan has a territory of around 3 million square kilometers with many steppes and only 8-10 percent of it is covered with forests. If we plant the trees in every oblast every year, we will make Kazakhstan a green country,” he stressed.
According to the President, every oblast, city, region have to attract people, especially young ones, to planting trees and taking care of them.
According to the President’s press-service, the forests area in Astana’s suburb area will be expanded and will reach 101 thousand hectares by 2020. The green belt area currently makes 11.5 thousand hectares. The plan is to plant 286 thousand second-year seedlings this year and 1.1 million seedlings as part of the second stage of the project in 2014-2016.