Has the Pandemic Diverted Kazakhstan’s Attention from Environmental Concerns?
The pandemic has resulted in Kazakh media decreasing their coverage of air pollution, despite its continued persistence, suggesting a decline in significance in 2020.
By Elizabeth Lewis, Analyst
With lockdown restrictions being enforced around the world, many major cities have seen improvements in air quality and even wildlife wandering the streets of shut down cities. However, Almaty, the most populous city in Kazakhstan, has not seen as great of a reprieve from the smog that engulfs it. Overall, Kazakhstan has only seen temporary improvements in air quality following the enforcement of lockdown measures, with the air pollution levels quick to bounce back to their pre-lockdown levels once restrictions on movement were lifted.
This article examines the discussion of air pollution in Kazak media in 2019 and 2020 to assess whether the pandemic has shifted Kazakhstan’s attention away from environmental concerns.
Overall, Kazakhstan has only seen temporary improvements in air quality following the enforcement of lockdown measures.
Human Activity and Topography Cause Pervasive Air Pollution
Kazakhstan has struggled to cope with increasing air pollution for years, resulting in it being named one of the 30 most polluted countries in the world. The pervasiveness of air pollution in Kazakhstan is largely due to environmental pollutants created by human activity and the topographical uniqueness of the country, which includes vast arid regions that are exposed to strong winds.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazerbayev in 2013 committed to the ambitious goal of transitioning Kazakhstan to using renewable energy and reducing emissions by 15% by 2030. Although the government has formally committed to embracing policy change that will address environmental concern, little — aside from an ineffective tree planting campaign in Almaty — has been done to quell the haze that lingers over many Kazakh cities.
Mentions of Air Pollution Declined Despite Persistent Pollution During the Pandemic
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, there has been a sharp decline in the mentions of air pollution in Kazakh media. Compared to 2019, mentions of air pollution decreased by a whopping 32 percent in 2020. However, sentiment in Kazakh media toward air pollution has remained consistent from 2019 to 2020.
Although the Kazakh media reported less about air pollution, similar problems with air quality persisted in 2020 as well. A comparison of Kazakhstan’s average AQI scores from 2019 and 2020 shows a miniscule decrease in air pollution from 2019 to 2020. In 2019, Kazakhstan had an average AQI score of 75, whereas in 2020 the average AQI score was 72. To provide further context for these scores it is important to note that the particle matter — a mixture of solid and liquid droplets suspended in the air that cause air pollution — was more than double the World Health Organization’s permissible exposure.
Although the Kazakh media reported less about air pollution, similar problems with air quality persisted in 2020 as well.
This explains the consistent media sentiment toward air pollution. As a result of persistent air pollution even in 2020, news pieces maintained a similar tone in their content when discussing air pollution: lamenting the poor air quality in cities, enumerating the sources of air pollution, or exploring citizen’s frustration with the situation.
Public Health Concerns Provide Potential Motivation for Change in Environmental Policy
A deeper examination of the topics discussed in conjunction with air pollution in Kazakh media following the outbreak of COVID-19 illuminates the direction future Kazakh environmental policy might take. 38 percent of the articles in Kazakh media mentioned health in conjunction with air pollution. Almost one-third of the articles were concerned with the sources of air pollution. However, articles paid greater attention to how vehicles contribute to pollution, instead of the contribution of coal and industry even though 80% of the country’s carbon emissions come from the energy sector, which employs coal-powered thermal power plants to provide heat and electricity. Smog was also a recurring topic, present in almost a quarter of all articles that discussed air pollution. Of the topics that appeared frequently with air pollution, ecology was the least commonly discussed. The limited discussion of ecology coupled with the media’s fixation on health concerns and smog, especially its vehicular causes, suggests that policymakers are likely to focus on these issues going forward.
Implications
This research and analysis indicate that the pandemic has resulted in Kazkah media decreasing their coverage of air pollution, despite its continued persistence, suggesting a decline in significance in 2020. The stability of sentiment from 2019 to 2020 implies that the media is not trying to play down the problem of air pollution. As a result Kazakhstan could resume its efforts in addressing the issue of air pollution later. The increased discussion of health in conjunction with air pollution could signal a change of direction for government policies on air pollution in the years to come that will be more conscious of creating an environment in cities that prioritizes the health of its citizens. However, the government should be wary of the potential pitfall of continuing to focus air pollution policy on regulating vehicular emissions, which are only a minor source of air pollution.
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About the Author
Elizabeth Lewis is an analyst at Hillhouse Consulting Group. A graduate student at Georgetown University, studying Eurasian, Russian, and East European Affairs, she has particular interest in the way conceptualizations of nationalism have developed in post-Soviet states. She speaks Russian and previously spent one year teaching at Belarus State University in Minsk, Belarus as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant.
About Hillhouse
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