Kazakhs question loss of their mountain to tourism interests

Why destroy beautiful loved mountain when there are so many other amazing tourism opportunities?

Tourism is heating up in Kazakhstan and no more so than on the revered mountain just outside the country’s largest city Almaty.

Kok Zhaillau mountain valley is not only beautiful, it is also close to the big polluted ex-capital of Kazakhstan, and locals who wish to get away from it all and clear their lungs can get there easily for a hike and a bit of natural therapy. Until… against the advice of a Canadian mountain resort consultancy, a network of politicians and developers decided to take the area out from the Ile-Alatau National Park, zone it as a ski or mountain resort, privatise the area and build big hotels and expensive houses.

The whole deal which goes with wrecking a natural environment to create a big-time ski resort with 50km plus of pistes should not be commenced without due care and attention.

Local people were incensed by this action, set up a petition that got 17,000 signatures and opposed the development in court on the transfer of the site into the category of reserved lands. They say all this was conducted in violation of the national law and the Aarhus Convention (The UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters).

Locals lost their court actions and, unwilling to sacrifice their own natural asset, held a round table meeting last week in the country’s capital Astana, to publicise their problem in Kazakhstan and abroad.

The strange thing about the whole development is that it’s not as though Kok Zhaillau is the best place to have a ski resort and its not as though Kazakhstan has a dearth of tourism opportunities other than mountain tourism.

The round table, which was attended by MPs, councillors and other local people, outlined the fact that that the local government have been advised that Kok Zhaillau is the worst place for ski tourism on the basis that there are other better places in Kazakhstan; there will be a real water and mud problem on this particular mountain and that the development will take an important resource away from the local population.

Moreover Kazakhstan has enormous opportunities for high grade, highly remunerative sustainable tourism projects. This country eight times the size of Germany has a population of just 18 million and vast open wild spaces. Herds of wild horses roam on the enormous steppe whilst treasure troves of wild apples and wild tulips grow in the hills, mountains and valleys close to Almaty. Adventure tourism and riding holidays are key potential untried opportunities.

Plus Kazakhstan’s position on the Silk Road with the Caspian Sea on its one border and the mountains and China on the other both lead to massive Silk Road torism opportunities. In particular collaborations with neighbours Kyrgistan (Biskek and stunning Lake Issy Kul) and Uzbekistan (Samarkand, Bukhara, Tashkent and Khiva) – are the current subject of major investment for sustainable tourism development supported by the World Bank and other NGOs.

So the question is why is Almaty town and Kazakstan foregoing the sustainable development of quality tourism for a small inappropriate, insensitive mountain development?

More info: The citizens group "Save Kokzhailau" is the platform for raising public environmental awareness on the Kokzhailau project and for the organization of public participation in this decision-making process, http://www.kokzhailyau.kz The NGO "Tausar Fund" is the operator for this public campaign

Valere Tjolle

Valere is editor and publisher of this year’s just released Sustainable Tourism 02