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NABU presents case study

Local Environmental NGOs in Kazakhstan: An Assessment of Efficiency

For over ten years, the Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU, German Society for Nature Protection) has been involved in nature protection in Central Asia by promoting and actively supporting the implementation of Biosphere Reserves and National Parks as well as other protection measures for "hot spots" of biodiversity. Without strong local partners, such goals are unattainable. Therefore, besides co-operating with state institutions, NABU puts great importance on building up and supporting nature protection competency in Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

With the study now presented in english and Russian languages NABU can offer a greater audience access to substantial results about the efficiency of local environmental NGOs.
For over fifteen years, local environmental NGOs have been engaged in various ways in protecting nature and the environment in Kazakhstan. Western organisations regard these civil agents as impor-tant partners for the implementation of international conventions on the environment. The large-scale support policies undertaken for this reason have, over the last ten years, decisively influenced the local NGO sector, but unfortunately have not always led to the desired results.

This case study aims at examing the present situation of Kazakhstani environmental NGOs taking into account the political, legal, socio-economic, and international framework and identifies strengths and weaknesses of the sector which currently comprises more than 150 active organisations.

At the end of the study, the authors give recomendations to raise the efficiency of local environmental NGOs. Hereby they address the local NGOs themselves, but their international donors, as well.

Study: Local Environmental NGOs in Kazakhstan (PDF, 2,0 MB)