Environmentalists of the International Coalition Rivers without Boundaries are concerned that the Kyrgyzstan’s authorities have given a unique UNESCO protected area in the Kyrgyz Republic for placer gold mining and construction of a hydropower plant.
They emphasize that satellite images from Sentinel spacecraft show signs of active development of the 73-hectare Naiza-Tugai placer gold site in the heart of Besh-Aral State Nature Reserve in Kyrgyzstan.
«Another alluvial gold site called «Arab» with an area of 69 hectares in the same specially protected natural area is waiting for its turn for development. The encroachment on the protected area is taking place with the full consent of the authorities, who have approved the issuance of the relevant licenses to gold miners on the basis of a Cabinet order dated May 30, 2023,» the press release says.
Environmentalists also note the pollution of Chatkal river on the territory of the reserve. According to Alexander Kolotov, coordinator of Rivers Without Boundaries Environmental Coalition for Central Asia, muddy streams from dumped gold mining waste have literally covered the entire riverbed. Such a scale of pollution of the water body, he said, is characteristic of gold mining, not exploration.
«Deposits that are being developed may also be in the flood zone of the reservoir of the new HPP on Chatkal river. The authorities of Kyrgyzstan are now actively looking for investors exactly for this project on the territory of Besh-Aral Reserve. At the recent investment forum in Vienna (Austria), held with the support of the World Bank, an updated project of Chatkal HPP was presented, which includes the creation of a reservoir of 860 million cubic meters, the construction of a 10-kilometer derivation tunnel from the dam to the engine room of the HPP, as well as laying of a power transmission line to export the generated electricity to neighboring Uzbekistan,» the coalition added.
Evgeny Simonov, international coordinator of the Coalition Rivers Without Boundaries, noted that the construction of hydropower plant on Chatkal with a dam 170-200 meters high will destroy the existing ecosystems of Chatkal river valley almost throughout Besh-Aral Reserve.
- Besh-Aral Reserve is one of the main components of the transboundary UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site Western Tien-Shan, which is located on the territory of three countries: Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Mining and construction of large dams on the territory of the World Heritage sites are prohibited by international law.
According to ecologists, the negative environmental consequences of such a large-scale development of the territory of the transboundary UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site Western Tien Shan may lead to the fact that the site will lose its unique natural properties and will be excluded from the World Heritage List.
The next session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee will be held in New Delhi (India) on July 21-30, 2024. Representatives of the International Coalition Rivers Without Boundaries have already received an official invitation to the Committee session.
