On the 11th of April 2018, a training workshop on reporting to the national PRTR took place in Astana, Kazakhstan. It was organized together by the Information Analytical Environmental Protection Center, UNDP in Kazakhstan and the Center of Assistance to Sustainable Development, with assistance of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Since 2017, industrial facilities, listed as Category I, have to provide reports on pollutants emissions to be added to the national Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR), which is available to the public. The list of substances to be reported includes 86 substances, such as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), mercury and other dangerous chemicals.

The training covered topics such as national PRTR implementation and reporting in Kazakhstan: 60 people form a broad range of key stakeholders participated in the seminar, including representatives of the ministries and administrations such as the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Administration of Natural Resources and Regulation of Natural Recourse Users, Department of Ecology, Department of Public Health, different representatives from mining, oil, metallurgical and chemical industries from different regions of the country.

The first session highlighted the requirements for a PRTR legislation and the participants were updated with the national situation regarding the ratification of the Kiev Protocol. Drafts versions of national manuals, entitled Assessment Methods of Emissions for Key and Priority Sectors were also presented to the participants.

Then, the participants were invited to take part in a live demonstration to learn how to report to the PRTR Software, which has been developed by an external IT company. Later. They shared their opinion on it.

The last two sessions focused on the assessment of emissions of mercury, heavy metals and POPs to the environment in lights of international techniques of emissions assessment developed by UN Environment and European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP).

The suggestions and recommendations, highlighted during the training, will be considered during the PRTR implementation in Kazakhstan, with the aim to improve methodologies and practices in the field of emissions assessment.

If you want more information or documents about this event, please send a mail to cwm@unitar.org