“Do you think that the lifestyle of the inhabitants of your town or city reflects behavior that is in line with the

concept of sustainable development? In your opinion, what should be improved?”

Question G: IE Business School ApplicationBy Dana Seitbekova

What is sustainable development?”Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet

their own needs.” – World Commission on Environment and Development

Understanding sustainable development

Meeting the needs of the future depends on how well we strike a balance between economic, environmental and social needs as we make the day-to-day decisions.

Economic needs: a business or country is required to use its resources efficiently and responsibly so that it can operate in a sustainable manner to consistently produce an operational profit.

Environmental needs: we need to ensure that we are consuming our natural resources, such as materials, energy fuels, land, water and others, at a sustainable rate, taking material scarcity into consideration.

Social needs: a society, or any social system, is required to persistently achieve a good social well-being.

The primary goals of sustainable development

In 2012, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development met to discuss and develop a set 17 of sustainable development goals (SDG) to work towards. The main ones are:

The end of poverty and hungerBetter education and healthcare standardsGender equalityDecent work and economic growthResponsible consumption and productionClimate actionHealth of the land, air and sea

Spotlight on Almaty, Kazakhstan

The largest and most densely populated city in the country with a population of over 1,5 million people.Сity area: 339 km2

Population density: 4 615 per km2

Generates 20% of the country’s GDPThe main drivers of the economy: industry, the service sector, and agriculture, as well as food processing and light industries. The average age of the city’s population is between 33 and 34 years old.

Economic sustainability issues

Poverty:• About 56% of Kazakh households, or about 9 million people, earn less than 36,000

tenge ($236) a month, while 1.5 million people earn less than 15,000 tenge;• 91% of Kazakhs have less than $10,000 of assets, while 8.6 percent have $10,000 to

$100,000.

Poor infrastructure:• Poor condition of roads, lack of a developed transport system and low power supply;• Currently there are more than 500,000 registered vehicles. According to local

authorities, there is of another 300,000 vehicles entering the city from outlying areas during working hours;

• Massive traffic jams due to aforementioned causes.

Reliance on imports:• Kazakhstan is a land-locked country, therefore it cannot export or import without co-

operation from the neighbors;• The cost of trade is typically 100% higher thus price of imported goods is at least twice

higher than of the ones produced locally;• Whereas Kazakhstan mostly exports oil, metals and wheat, almost no goods are

produced locally in Almaty.

Environmental sustainability issues

Air pollution:• Heavy air pollution due to the geographical position, use of petroleum and coal as

energy sources, emissions and harmful substances emitted by industrial enterprises;• The contribution of automobile transport to the air basin pollution has reached 90 % of

the total emissions in Almaty in the recent years;• As a result, people are suffering from numerous health challenges, including

cardiovascular diseases, accounted for 57% of all mortality.

Dirty streets:•Despite being promoted as “The City of Apples”, Almaty is known as the 9th dirtiest city in the world;•The city streets are full of household garbage, clogged up irrigation ditches and emissions from non-eco friendly transport;•Poor waste management – a lack of utilization capacity and lack of incentives to use recycled materials;

Extinction of endangered species:•More than 120,000 critically endangered saiga antelopes — more than one-third of the worldwide population — have mysteriously died in Kazakhstan, near Almaty in 2015;•The animals in Almaty Zoo are suffering from cramped and unsanitary conditions. It has been estimated that 570 animals died in the last 5 years.

Social sustainability issues

Low quality of education:• Only 33% of children are enrolled in pre-school which means fewer children have access

to school meals, health checks and immunizations;• No legislative systems to insist that special needs children be included in the public

education system;• Teachers suffer from increasingly poor working conditions and low salaries, which leads to

low teacher motivation and, in result, negative educational outcomes.

Lack of women security:• Women in Kazakhstan are faced with discrimination and inequality both at work and at

home;• Around 5000 cases of domestic abuse are reported each year in Almaty. Only 1500

women request for a consultation on their rights;• Out of 100 marriages in Almaty 15 end in divorce due to psychological or physical abuse

and attack on basic rights. After filing the divorce, most of the women don’t receive child support payment.

Discrimination:• 41 thousand disabled people live in Almaty. Most don’t enjoy the basic rights, cannot find

a job and are not able participate in the social, cultural and political life of country;• In some companies the disproportion of salaries of local and foreign employees may

reach 1000%;• The LGBT community faces discrimination and prejudice during the course their everyday

lives.

Economic sustainability issues: Solutions

Poverty:Organizing vocational training courses that will provide for a multitude of employment opportunities;Spreading awareness on the importance of education among all population classes;Developing affordable residential options;Implementing better protection systems with higher pensions, social insurances and grants for vulnerable groups – large families, disabled, the elderly, unemployed and those with low income;Maintaining existing and promoting new employment opportunities by supporting growth of non-oil economic sectors.

Poor infrastructure:

Providing more funds for modernization of enterprises, improving access to infrastructure, and building human resources;Building new and reconstructing old motor roads throughout Almaty and the ones connecting it with the other cities of Kazakhstan, in particular the one of national significance – Almaty – Ust-Kamenogorsk, and neighboring countriesModernizing airport structure and creating more routes towards the international destinations;Building new and reconstructing old railways connecting Almaty with the other cities of Kazakhstan and neighboring countries;Attracting private investors to finance the infrastructure projects with government guarantees.

Reliance on imports:Creating a well-designed and fully-implemented transit regime to reduce the need for border infrastructure and control;Encouraging purchase of local goods and domestic production through incentives, grants, loans, subsidies and tax reductions;Providing long-term contracts to manufacturers to increase the proportion of local content in his production, improve the quality of products, reduce the costs and develop cluster production;Encouraging involvement in agricultural production and processing in Almaty and its surrounding areas due to its favorable climate conditions;Reviving the once famous apple gardens of Almaty and restoring its signature aport apples.

Environmental sustainability issues: Solutions

Air pollution:Increasing tax on vehicles depending on the year of their manufacture. The older a vehicle is, the higher the tax should be;Reducing import of motor transportation not corresponding to the international eco-standards;Further developing the metro system to eliminate the need to use automobiles. Today there are only 9 metro stations located in Almaty;Creating better cycling conditions and improving the bus system to encourage use of publc transport;Organizing discussions, public hearings, receptions and other forms of dialogue and exchange between the government, society and business on the environmental issues;Switching to renewable sources of energy – sustainable energy provided by the sun, the wind, the earth’s heat, waterfalls, tides, and the growth of

plants.Dirty streets:

Promoting optimisation of energy consumption and fuel efficiency;Supporting the use of environmentally-friendly packaging;Restricting burning garbage, introducing waste sorting and recycling;Installing more garbage bins around the city and imposing heavy fines on the citizens for throwing garbage and spitting in the streets.

Extinction of endangered species:Creating an independent council which should ensure accountability and transparency of the zoo work, well-being of animals, ethical treatment and compliance with the international standards;Promoting kindness, compassion and responsibility towards animals by holding tours, mass media events and special campaigns.

Social sustainability issues: Solutions

Low quality of education:Increasing the percentage of GDP spent on education to make it more affordable. Currently the public schools offer free education, however families still bear the costs of purchasing textbooks, uniform, stationary and the costs of school renovation;Providing better compensation and benefits for professionals working in socio-cultural sectors to at least the level of average national wage;Developing new and inclusive curriculum that allows implementation of a comprehensive strategy for the inclusion of special needs children;Monitoring the standardization of schools and enforce compliance of national standards across all school types, whether they are public or private;Providing teachers with regular training courses to keep their professional qualifications up-to-date.

Lack of women security:

Strengthening of civic institutions which in turn should create conditions to increase people’s quality of life, ensuring their rights, freedoms and legitimate interests;Adopting laws requiring health professionals and other service providers to report suspected domestic abuse;Creating programs designed to spread awareness and teach women how to recognize and reduce violence in a relationship.

Discrimination:Adopting and implementing accelerated

disability-inclusive national development strategies;Promoting access to inclusive education, skill development and vocational and entrepreneurial training to ensure access for employment for disabled members of the society;Setting job quotas and enhancing supervision to protect the rights of disabled;Making the city areas more accessible for people with disabilities;Prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Engaging in public advocacy of decriminalization and other measures necessary to strengthen human rights protection for LGBT persons, including through statements, speeches, newspaper articles, video messages and distribution of other materials;Encouraging local employees to become more involved in education and training courses to reach higher qualifications and gain more knowledge and skills.

Conclusion

Due to the numerous amount of complex issues affecting not just Almaty, but whole Kazakhstan, I am not able to say that the lifestyle of

the inhabitants of Almaty reflects behavior that is in line with the concept of sustainable development. Moreover, if no actions are taken

to improve the situation, the future generation of the city might face even more serious problems.

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