Admittedly food security is one of the most important potential issues in the Central Asia. The problem has connections with issue of water security. Thus it is necessary to point out, that the Republic of Kazakhstan satisfies demand for wheat and a flour of neighboring countries. Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan are traditional importers of the Kazakhstan’s grain. Moreover, Kazakhstan has a problem in the sphere of wheat export therefore it affects on food security environment in the Central Asia.
About 925 million people are undernourished in the world and Central Asia is no exception. People living in Central Asia are severely impacted by fluctuations in food prices. The primary concern related to food security in the region is the relatively high level of poverty faced by Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan (47.2 percent and 31.7 percent, respectively), and in a lesser extent Uzbekistan. Central Asian populations suffer from both short and long term food insecurity.
There are four main components of food security:
1. Availability. There is a reliable and consistent source of quality food.
2. Access. People have sufficient resources to produce and/or purchase food.
3. Utilization. People have the knowledge and basic sanitary conditions to choose, prepare, and distribute food in a way that results in good nutrition.
4. Stability. People’s ability to access and utilize food that remains stable and sustained over time.
We thought fit to underline, that the Republic of Kazakhstan for last three years when the question on wheat deliveries aggravated all over the world, has contributed much for the Central — Asian republics.
The problems of environmental degradation and climate change are actual issue in every region of the world, and the CA is no exception. The basic threats and problems in environmental protection sphere are:
1. Consequences of nuclear tests on the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site.
2. Ecological balance infringement in the Caspian Sea in view of poaching and hydrocarbonic deposits exploitation.
3. Drying of the Aral Sea. Desertification of the lands.
4. Pollution and exhaustion of trans-border rivers' water resources.
Our President has designated new approaches of global ecological crisis resolution through the partnership of civilizations. One of mechanisms of such partnership can become Astana Initiative «The Green Bridge». The main purpose of the initiative is the assistance to development of partnership among the European, Asian and Pacific countries on promotion of «green economy», and also partnership of state and private sector, public and international organizations.
Partnership program «Green Bridge» includes three main components:
1. Drawing up program and projects coordination and management mechanisms, including financing and technologies transfer mechanisms.
2. Development of investment and strategic tasks package on promotion of «green economy» of the countries, subregions and regions.
3. Signing of an Agreement on issue of program realization among the interested parties: states, international institutions, private sector, and other members of the program.
Thus Kazakhstan has taken an active position in sphere of environmental protection, realizing not only current ecological threats, but also necessity of immediate measures acceptance. Furthermore, instruments of program realization are also clear.
Summing up, we have to make a conclusion, that feature of the listed complex of internal problems consists in long-term character of problems' consequences which may lie on shoulders of the next generations. Hence, it is necessary to undertake urgently active actions on management of the challenges, to put new initiatives, to find the compromise, and the main point is to engage in joint realization of the initiatives. The most prominent and far-sighted are N. A. Nazarbayev’s ideas about creation of joint Euroasian security system, and also the concept of indivisible cooperative security. In the projects are incorporated all necessary components of successful and effective work in the future, instruments of multilateral dialogue, the account of mutual interests and aspiration to consensus achievement, which according to the international experience, are inseparable from stable and peace development of any region.
Makubayev Yu.
Master of Humanitarian Sciences
