Kazakh president orders environmental security to be stepped up.

(From BBC Monitoring International Reports)

Astana, 15 January: Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev set the government the task of strengthening the country's environmental security at a session of the Security Council held in [the Kazakh capital] Astana today, the chairman of the council, Omarkhan Oksikbayev, told journalists.

Over 20bn tonnes of industrial waste have accumulated in Kazakhstan, 25 per cent of which, more than 5bn tonnes, are toxic waste. This creates a potential threat of emergency situations man-made in origin, due to desertification, descent of mountain torrents, floods, earthquakes and natural …