BIODIVERSITY FINANCE
Why Should Kazakhstan’s Companies Disclose Nature-Related Data?
Nature-related disclosure is becoming a new standard of sustainable business. For companies in Kazakhstan, this is not merely about reputation or alignment…
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is the world's ninth-largest country, spanning 2.72 million km² and home to vast steppe, desert, mountain and inland water ecosystems. The country harbours globally important biodiversity, including large populations of saiga antelope, unique endemic plant species, and wild relatives of cultivated crops that are critical for global food security.
UNDP BIOFIN was launched in Kazakhstan in 2013 and is implemented in partnership with the Forestry and Wildlife Committee under the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. Working closely with government institutions, the private sector and civil society, UNDP BIOFIN supports Kazakhstan in strengthening its biodiversity finance framework, closing the biodiversity finance gap and aligning national policies with the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Kazakhstan is one of UNDP BIOFIN's longest-running country programmes. Since 2013, the programme has regularly updated the Policy and Institutional Review (PIR) and Biodiversity Expenditure Review (BER), helping the government track biodiversity investments, identify financing gaps and develop innovative finance solutions. These efforts have contributed to major reforms, including increased financing for protected areas, ecological fiscal reforms, sustainable tourism financing, and the expansion of innovative biodiversity finance mechanisms.
Finance solutions
1. Subsidising game breeding to save threatened animal species and develop an improved system of hunting concessions
The aim of the finance solution is to conservation of the natural population of wildlife, through introduced government subsidies for game breeding. The end of result of the finance solution is to preserve wildlife resources and develop the market for sustainable hunting by releasing some animals in the wild while using some animals for hunting, sale and placing on the market (horns, meat, skin, etc.).
2. Creating a basis for certification in the field of ecotourism
Ecotourism development in Kazakhstan would support economic development, increase financing of Protected Areas and expand opportunities for local livelihoods for men and women. The finance solution aims to increase investment in ecotourism infrastructure and services through enhanced government incentives.
3. Strengthening PA management and financial planning for improved state financing
This solution aims to ensure that the 27 protected areas have high-quality budgeted management plans capable of securing adequate government funding for their successful management.
4. Institutionalizing and Enhancing Sustainability of Biodiversity Offsets in Infrastructure Projects Implementation: A Focus on Kazakhstan
The purpose of the financial solution is to introduce a new effective mechanism for the conservation of biodiversity during the industrial projects implementation on the example of the Kansu project. Kazakhstan is an industrial country, industrial development of the territory will continue and the introduction of a financial solution will allow avoiding similar problems in the future.
5. Creating an enabling environment for attracting nature-positive carbon offsets from the international market and multinational enterprises operating in the country
Most of the forests of Kazakhstan (more than 11 million hectares), including rare, endangered, globally important species, remain outside the protected areas. This negatively affects the conservation of forest biodiversity. The forests are in state ownership, financed from the state budget; however, there is a financing gap of more than 35%. The finance solution is aimed at attracting additional foreign investments for the conservation of forest biodiversity through high-integrity carbon projects. An allocation mechanism will ensure that investors’ financial resources are directly channeled into forest biodiversity conservation, expanding forest areas, and improving forest management systems.
6. Establishing an internal Forest Carbon Trading System (ETS) and embedding carbon offsets into the national legal framework
Carbon offsets support low-carbon green development and provide a flexible mechanism for reducing carbon in the atmosphere. The relaunched Emissions Trading System (ETS) of Kazakhstan creates an opportunity to include biodiversity-friendly carbon offsets as an official option for the ETS. The solution aims to develop and promote an accepted carbon offset standard in the Forestry sector for Kazakhstan (and regionally) that includes an effective monitoring and evaluation, and verification system. Establishing such a system will offer lower-cost options to offset emissions and increase financing for biodiversity-friendly AFOLU projects.
Key results
Strengthening Biodiversity Finance Legislation
UNDP BIOFIN supported the development of Kazakhstan's new Environmental Code and other legislative reforms by introducing innovative biodiversity finance mechanisms. The reforms established legal foundations for biodiversity offsets, voluntary Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES), carbon offsets, green investments, and ecotourism in protected areas, helping align Kazakhstan's biodiversity and climate commitments while creating new opportunities to mobilize finance for nature.
Transforming Protected Area Finance
UNDP BIOFIN helped institutionalize results-based financing by ensuring that protected area management plans are officially recognized as budgetary planning tools. Since 2020, government funding for protected areas has increased 2.6 times, reaching approximately US$60 million annually in 2024, while cumulative additional financing exceeded US$130 million between 2020 and 2024. These reforms have strengthened the long-term financial sustainability of Kazakhstan's protected area network.
Advancing Sustainable Tourism Finance
UNDP BIOFIN supported the development of Kazakhstan's first National Ecotourism Standard, which entered into force in June 2025. The standard establishes biodiversity and sustainability requirements for tourism businesses and supports the reinvestment of tourism revenues into conservation. Legislative reforms are expected to increase protected area revenues sixfold by 2030, creating a sustainable source of financing for biodiversity.
Developing Carbon Finance for Nature
UNDP BIOFIN is advancing innovative carbon finance mechanisms to attract new investment for biodiversity conservation. In 2019, the programme mobilized more than US$798,000 in private investment from Bitfury to pilot Kazakhstan's first forest carbon project. The initiative identified 116,800 hectares of previously unaccounted forest, with 20,200 hectares subsequently incorporated into the State Forest Fund. Today, UNDP BIOFIN is supporting the development of high-integrity forest carbon projects and integrating biodiversity-friendly carbon offsets into Kazakhstan's Emissions Trading System.
Building Long-Term Capacity
To ensure the sustainability of biodiversity finance reforms, UNDP BIOFIN introduced protected area financial planning and modern ecotourism management into the curricula of three leading universities in Kazakhstan. More than 2,000 students each year now receive training in biodiversity finance, sustainable tourism and protected area management, helping build the next generation of conservation finance professionals.
