Two new nature parks will appear in Kazakhstan by 2023

The 14th national park "Ulytau" and another regional nature park "Merke" will appear in Kazakhstan. The appendix of the passport of the National Project "Green Kazakhstan", published on the website of the Prime Minister, states that the creation of a new national park "Ulytau" is planned to be completed in 2023. In total, 1,370,800 tenge was allocated for the project. The Merke Regional Park is planned to be completed in 2022. According to the document, 466 thousand tenge has been allocated for this project. It is known that the national park "Ulytau" will be located in the Karaganda region, and the regional park "Merke" - in Zhambyl. According to the project passport, the area of protected natural territories of Kazakhstan will increase by 173.9 thousand hectares due to the creation of new Ulytau State Enterprise (58.9 thousand hectares) and Merke State Enterprise (115 thousand hectares). According to the Forestry and Wildlife Committee of the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources, currently the total area of specially protected natural territories of Kazakhstan is 9.6 percent of the country's territory (26,251.5 thousand hectares). "10 state nature reserves cover an area of 1,613.7 thousand hectares; 13 state national nature parks occupy 2,667. 37 thousand hectares; six state nature reserves - 3,122.1 thousand hectares," the ministry said.