The Ural River Park Project in Kazakhstan

The "Ural River Park Project" (URPP) was launched by ENI in 2009 and will be completed in December 2011. It is a cooperative program to support national efforts in promoting sustainable use of wetlands and coastal resources in the Ural river delta. This area shows several similarities with the Italian Po river delta area both for the environmental condition and for the possibility of activities development. To exploit this similarity, a key feature of the project development is the twinning of the Ural Delta wetlands located near Atyrau city with the Po River Delta Regional Park - close to Ravenna city.

It is significant that the cities of Atyrau and Ravenna, located in the vicinity of the nature reserve or parks boundaries, are also the regional capitals of the oil and gas industry in their countries. In this regard, Atyrau is striving to demonstrate that the development associated with the oil & gas industry can be positively combined with the geo- and biodiversity preservation of its wetland, as the Ravenna and Po Delta Park experience has highlighted.

The Ural and Po deltas are unique environments rich in geo- and biodiversity, with animal species that inhabit both areas (such as the cattle egret, the white spoonbill, the swan, the great white pelican and others). Likewise, rapid population growth and shifting consumer demands have considerably increased the demand for food, energy and trade from marine areas, where fishing activities are widespread. Such trends in development are likely to continue, and perhaps accelerate, over the coming decades.

In light of the successful cooperation between ENI and the city of Ravenna for the Po Delta Park, ENI promoted the URPP, which is the first private-public cooperation project of this kind in the Caspian region. The final objective that ENI supported is the inclusion of the Ural River Delta into the UNESCO Man and Biosphere (MAB) program, under the auspices of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and through international scientific cooperation (University of Bologna, Italy) with the involvement of local and international stakeholders (Global Environment Facility – United Nations Development Program GEF-UNDP, UNESCO, Aarhus Center of Atyrau, Ak Zhayik State Nature Reserve, Atyrau local community, and NGOs).
The project has been managed:

a) by using international best practices and procedures, such as those indicated by the UNESCO - MAB Biosphere Program and the Ramsar Convention (Iran, 1971);
b) within the framework of the "Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)" methodology, to describe and plan the complex interactions between the resource system and its potential users;
c) through a Technical and Scientific Working Group supported by: 

• GEF – UNDP, Kazakhstan;
• State Natural Reserve "Ak Zhayik"- Atyrau, Kazakhstan.
• Integrated Geoscience Research Group (I.G.R.G), University of Bologna, Ravenna Campus, Italy ;
• Alma Mater Foundation of the Bologna University (FAM), Italy;
• Po Delta Park Emilia Romagna, Italy.

Strong interlinks between natural and social sciences are crucial to a successful project. So, efforts to combine conservation and development will involve local people in various ways, such as enabling community groups to manage the wetlands; building their capacity to understand and manage the resources; and strengthening links with local authorities and conservation officials. In fact, conservation efforts can be successful only if local people see how they will benefit from them.