Kyrgyzstan is planning to build a road across the Besh-Aral Reserve in Chatlak district, Dzhalal-Abad region, and then to build an HPP and mine gold. To do so, the Cabinet of Ministers passed a decree in 2023 on the transformation of 200 hectares of the reserve area.
Currently, local residents are divided into two camps: some support the initiative, others stand against the road construction. Supporters believe that the hydro power plant would be build after road construction. Opponents voice concerns for the ecosystem because gold mining will start as soon as the road is built.
Representatives of local authorities assured that gold in the Besh-Aral Reserve, which is on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List, would be mined with participation of the state. However, ecologists warn about dire consequences of this activity.
The Besh-Aral Reserve is located in Chatkal district of Dzhalal-Abad region. Its area is over 100 thousand hectares. The road there is difficult, and the winter is long and lasts for 8 months.
It was founded in 1979, and was put on the UNESCO’s Heritage List in 2016.
According to UNESCO, the transnational object of world natural heritage “Western Tien Shan” is considered one of the parts of the Tien Shan range in Central Asia, which is one of the seven largest mountain groups in the world. It is notable for its diverse landscapes and extremely rich biodiversity. Tien Shan has a global importance as a centre of origin of a range of cultivated fruit crops and is home to a great variety of forest types and unique plant communities.
In 2023, the government transformed 200 hectares of the reserve from the category of “special protection natural areas” into the category of “lands used for industry, transport, communications, power engineering, defence and other purposes”. It was done to build a straight road from Chatkal district to Tashkent across the Besh-Aral Reserve. According to explanations given by national authorities, a frontier station and an HPP could be built afterwards. According to the decree, the contractor is “Muras Sintez” company.
According to akim [head] of Chatkal district Altynbek Senirbaev, last year “Muras Sintez” company already started to lay a road to the reserve for vehicles. Currently, all construction works are suspended due to snow on the site.
“To build an HPP, we need first to build a road to the reserve. Before that, there should be gold mining operations because if the HPP is to be built, gold extraction must be done beforehand. After “Muras Sintez” gets a license, it will start gold mining with the state participation. At the same time, a road will be built from Chatkal to Tashkent. It can promote the development of tourism. For the HPP to be constructed, some extra land needs to be transformed,” the akim said.
However, according to ecologist Gamal Sooronkulov, there are other roads leading to the capital of Uzbekistan and it is unreasonable to lay a road across the reserve. He expresses concerns over the fact that the initiative is based on gold mining.
“There are other roads leading to Tashkent. It snows in Besh-Aral for 8 months. What roads are available there? It’s another matter. There are two gold mines in the best areas of the reserve: Naiza and Arap. Previously, locals and activists stood against gold mining and suppressed such initiatives. They do not have so much gold there. Now, the government plans to extract it. They do not understand that mining a small amount of gold does a lot of harm to the environment. The money from these two deposits will not fill the budget gap of Chatkal. It won’t be profitable,” the ecologist said.
Nevertheless, there are some locals who support construction of an HPP. One of them is Ergen Koshonbaev, who lives not far from the reserve. He supports not only the road and HPP construction, but also the allocation of the reserve lands to the locals as pastures.
“The Chatkal river’s waters have been flowing for centuries to no avail. HPP construction will be beneficial for entire Kyrgyzstan and the borders will be strong. We always speak of the reserve, but people were resettled there in 1979. However, many of them left the area due to difficult conditions and later the area was turned into a reserve. Our area lives off cattle farming. There is not enough fodder, winter is very difficult. In the past, people had some pieces of land in the reserve. I used to speak out at kurultai in favour of returning the lands to locals,” Koshonbaev said.
According to local authority representatives, HPP construction is very important in terms of strategy despite the harm that the road building may do to land resources. According to the akim, 200 hectares of the reserve land will be supplied from the adjacent area.
Ysabek Amatov, head of the southern department of the Nature Conservation Union of Germany (NABU-Kyrgyzstan), said that it would take about 100 years to have newly planted trees reach the size of the cut-down trees.
“It takes 100 years for trees to mature. Even if walnuts, junipers are planted in other places, they still will not replace wild trees. There could be wild honeysuckle, shrubs on the cleared spaces. How will they be relocated to other places? There is a wild animal life present over and under the ground in addition to the forest trees. How can we relocate snakes, insects? A forest is not only about trees. A forest combines all: animals and plants. It is difficult to recover even 0.01 hectares, not to speak of 200 hectares. It is very important to preserve all what nature gives. Even if we provide adjacent are, we won’t be able to restore the destroyed land,” Amatov said.
According to ecologists, climate change decreases the amount of water and deforestation for the purpose of HPP construction seems illogical.
“The water content of rivers depends on the forest because if there are dense shrubs in a forest, water sources in the mountains are well preserved. If there are no trees and shrubs in the mountains, springs run dry, which eventually leads to rivers running dry. Thus, there need to be more forests to increase the water content. Some people might think that HPP construction would help preserve water and get energy. However, it would be inefficient. HPP construction will change climatic conditions, lead to the change in the hydrologic balance, and can cause underwater explosions,” Amatov said.
According to specialists of the Institute for Biology of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic, the hydrological regime will change significantly due to the construction of the chain of hydro power plants at Chatkal, which can cause serious damage to plants and animals of the reserve, which are on the Endangered Species List.
“The Menzbier’s marmot inhabits only in this place. Apricots, apples, Uzunakhmat wild grape are also on the endangered species list. Unfortunately, almost 2 thousand hectares still need restoration. Who will restore them? They need to be restored anyway. Plants that used to live there must grow there. Animals should return. Otherwise, it will be harmful for the environment,” said ecologist Gamal Sooronkulov.
“HPP is not a green power source”
Experts of the international environmental coalition “Rivers Without Borders” in their new report published this February disproved the myth of HPPs being the driving force of ‘green’ energy. According to the information provided on the official website, there are several consequences of HPP operation:
- HPPs consume 10-500 times more water than a wind or solar farm.
- Hydroelectric reservoirs cover significant areas of fertile land in river valleys, which does harm to biodiversity and local residents.
- HPPs destroy the smallest and endangered biodiversity – the fresh water ecosystem.
Representatives of the organisation met with the members of parliament of Kyrgyzstan in February and urged them to take control of the HPP construction at Chatkal. Moreover, they addressed their letter to UNESCO.
“The plans to build an HPP on the wild river of Chatkal cause serious concerns among environmental organisations and the academic community,” said Aleksandr Kolotov, coordinator in Central Asia of the coalition “Rivers Without Borders”, at the meeting.
He also noted that a more detailed analysis needs to be performed once again to tell how much economic benefits of the HPP construction at Chatkal exceed all ecological costs of the penetration into the UNESCO’s world heritage site, which is shared between Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.