Kazakhstan is undergoing massive social and economic change. In 2005, the UN report identified scarce reserves of renewable water in Kazakhstan, suggesting this could seriously limit the sustainable development of its rich natural reserves and economy. Kazakhstan’s educational policy has recently undergone several reforms to better support its people in developing the skills required to underpin an internationally competitive economy. A key component of this is the development of relationships between universities and business sector. Involvement of business and professional associations in developing the core content of University courses, improving teaching and learning processes and further development of research links between sectors have all been identified as areas yet to be fully exploited. It is within this clear environmental protection (national priority) and higher education (partnership working with enterprises; national priority) context that I-WEB identifies the ongoing need to implement Masters and PhD programs focused on the integrated management of water (regional priority) in close partnership with professional and industrial organizations.
The specific problem targeted by I-WEB is the need to develop capability and operational capacity to support the institutionalization of integrated water cycle management (IWCM) approaches. This focus is identified and driven by Kazak members of I-WEB in recognition of the scale and impact of the major water resource issues currently impacting Kazakhstan. These include increasing levels of water consumption by agriculture, industry (especially gas and oil industries) and urban areas. For example, whilst modernization of agriculture is strongly encouraged this is often linked to increasing water consumptions. This leads to reduction in water levels in both surface and groundwater bodies, the most notable example of which is evidenced by the Aral Sea. Increasing demand for water resources within Kazakhstan is further complicated by the fact that 7 of its 8 main river basins are transboundary. Hence the need for IWCM plans to balance demands on water resources across economic sectors but also across national boundaries. A further crucial aspect in sustainably managing Kazakhstan water resources in mitigating the impacts of climate change (current scenarios indicate levels of precipitation and glacier run-off may reduce further). Water pollution is also a major concern in Kazakhstan with water quality in many of its surface and ground waters identified as “unsatisfactory”. Discharges of untreated effluents from chemical reported. The first stage of I-WEB was to undertake a thorough needs analysis with regard to identifying IWCM skills, capacities and research gaps.
The overall target of the I-WEB consortium:
-
To develop capability and operational capacity to support the institutionalization of water management approaches within KZ
-
To support KazNU, IKTU and KokSU to revise and modernize their existing Ecology programs and develop new Master programs in Integrated Water Cycle Management (IWSM).
Key to this development will be the close collaboration with professional and business organizations to ensure that programs developed are tailored to meet current and emerging needs of Kazakhstani water professionals.
-
Establishment of collaborative framework and mentoring arrangements
-
Critical evaluation of current practice
-
Development of educational framework
-
Establishment and validation of intensive IWCM and educational modernization retraining courses
-
Delivery of master classes and collaboration with and dissemination to industry and regulators
-
Evaluation progress and identification and implementation of further action
-
Academics (Lecturers, technicians, students)
-
Professional societies
-
Business (e.g. water suppliers, water biological resources, water traders, farming, oil, gas, transport, energy producers)
-
Regulators (local catchment and regional planners, policy development and environmental regulators)
Project manager – Tatiana Shakirova
E-mail: tshakirova@carececo.org