Kulsary residents celebrate Earth Day

On April 17, in the new Zhansaya and Dostyk city parks, there was a weekend initiative timed to coincide with Earth Day, as well as with master classes on the care of green spaces in Kulsary.

Local community members, students from Schools № 16 and 18, representatives of LLP Tengizchevroil and the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia (EFCA), and employees of the park service company took part in the public event held as part of the Orleu project.

The idea of combining the traditional weekend initiative and useful master classes was much to the liking of the participants. For the first time in Kulsary, an expert on landscaping, Bolat Musabekov, talked about and showed how best to plant trees in the local climate, what is best to plant and how to take care of it. Bolat has eight years of experience in successful gardening in Atyrau and Kulsary and happily shared his secrets with Kulsary residents.

Good music and conversation among neighbors and fellow villagers added to the already positive impressions about the knowledge gained and the work done. And there was a lot of work to do: there are about 1200 trees in the park, and each one needs attention and care. Participants of the weekend cleanup had time to loosen the soil, make fertilizer, whiten and put in mulch. Mulch happens to be made of reprocessed pallets for the transportation of goods, which are no longer thrown away, but are instead crushed right on the territory of the district, helping trees to save precious moisture from rapid evaporation.

"They say that people very much value what they made with their hands," says Aigul Tagatova, project manager. "Therefore, we hope that the Kulsary residents who took part in the event will now take care of parks, the small green oases in their city, that will become their favorite places of rest.”

The Zhansaya and Dostyk parks were created on the site of wastelands with the funds of Tengizchevroil LLP, following the numerous requests of the residents of Kulsary. At the request of the Akimat, for the first two years, park specialists were found through landscaping specialists hired by TCO, so that the trees could take root and begin to grow. But since 2015, the akimat of the city of Kulsary has taken it upon itself to maintain the park and care for trees.

The EFCA Orleu project is aimed at beautifying public places in the city of Kulsary. The project mainly involved the inhabitants of microdistricts 1 and 5, as well as Schools No. 16 and 18. The project provides training and flash mobs on environmental topics, as well as grant competitions for the improvement of parks, courtyards, and school campuses.

The theme of city greening has been repeatedly brought up by townspeople in sociological surveys as one of the most important ways to improve ecology [1]. According to the results of the survey, 67% of residents of microdistricts go to parks in order to take a walk with children. 30% and 40%, respectively, are fully or partially ready to take part in the upkeep of a park: participate in maintenance activities, citywide events, and meetings.

[1] Based on the results of independent sociological research in 2007 and 2011.