Community of Practice

Country: Kazakhstan

Description of the Assignment: National consultant for finalizing the draft Water Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Period of assignment: Approximately April 2024 - May 2024 (30 working days)

Place of Work: Home-based, Kazakhstan

Contract type: Individual Contract 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Partnership for Action on Green Economy in Kazakhstan (PAGE) is an initiative of five UN agencies to implement the commitments of the Rio+20 Declaration. The Program's partner agencies are United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). PAGE aims to support countries in achieving an economy that is low-carbon, resource-efficient and inclusive. PAGE's overall vision is to promote equitable and sustainable transformation of national economic structures in 30 countries with the ultimate intention of achieving environmental sustainability, creating decent jobs, reducing poverty and improving people's well-being.

The goal of PAGE is to help countries create new jobs and skills, promote clean technologies, reorient finance, and reduce environmental risks and poverty. The priorities of PAGE work in Kazakhstan were determined by three parameters:

• Integrating the goals and objectives of an inclusive green economy (hereinafter referred to as IGE) into national development planning aligned with the SDGs;
• Evidence-based sectoral and thematic reforms;
• Increasing individual, institutional and planning capacity.

Rationale:

As part of implementation of tasks to improve water resources management policy, the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan approved the Concept of the State Program for Water Resources Management of Kazakhstan for 2020-2030. This Concept serves as a promise for improving legislation and increasing the efficiency of water resource management in Kazakhstan.

The current Water Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter referred to as the WC) was adopted in 2003, since then it was amended 72 times. The Water Code is mainly focused on the economic use of water resources, where water is considered as a means of achieving economic benefits, for example, in agriculture, while saving water, stimulating the economical use of water, preserving aquatic ecosystems, etc. are not taken into account. On the instructions of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan during 2021-2022 prepared the Concept and draft of the WC. However, according to expert opinion and the environmental community, this WC is not sufficiently harmonized with other branches of legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and many provisions of the WC aimed at stimulating a careful attitude towards water bodies risk remaining unrealized due to the ineffectiveness of the rules governing control and supervision of their implementation and compliance. At the same time, the bill contains a number of rules that worsen the conditions for the protection of water bodies, even in comparison with the current legislation. In addition, it is necessary to revise and supplement the rules governing control and supervision in the field of water relations, which, under the existing regulatory policy of the state in relation to business entities, may remain inapplicable in practice.

Scope of work:

Proposals for changes and additions to the draft Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On introducing amendments and additions to certain legislative acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on issues of protection and use of water resources”, aimed at harmonizing the norms of other branches of legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the provisions of the draft Water Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan

To apply please follow the link: https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_negotiation.cfm?nego_id=17500