Alim Sailybaev knows how to drive change: He is literally developing Kazakhstan’s voluntary carbon credit market from seed. And he does it on the parched bottom of the Aral Sea.

When we meet at a planting site in Aralkum, Sailybaev, one of the youngest deserts on earth, 50 kilometers northwest of the fishing village of Karateren, is full of ideas: micro-nurseries for seedlings, an eco-corridor, a green e-currency and a crowdfunding platform. His salt and pepper hair blows as he excitedly discusses concepts ranging from green ecology, sustainable development, equity financing, anthropology, etc Richard Florida’s transformation theory.

“One thing is to create a new ecosystem. Another is to certify the carbon model (to make it financially sustainable),” he says.

Sailybaev, 50, was born in Almaty and studied international relations at “Q” University, which bills itself as Kazakhstan’s first private university. He moved to the UK in the late 1990s to study diplomacy at the University of Reading and in 2003 received another master’s degree, this time in economics and cultural studies at the City, University of London.

In recent decades he has worked largely in the development sector, including at the United Nations Development Program. However, his career has really been about innovation and creating transformative value for communities and businesses. Lately his focus has been on going green.

“In terms of CO2 emissions, Aralkum is terra incognita”

In 2023 Kazakhstan assumed a strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, which aims to offset emissions through the development of carbon sinks. The state regulatory framework for CO2 quotas is set out in the regulation Environmental Code January 2021. However, the agricultural sector is omitted the national carbon unit plan. And the voluntary carbon market that is just beginning to take shape looks more like a financial Wild West than a Holy Land of Opportunity.

In February 2023, around the same time as the government’s carbon strategy was launched, Sailybaev founded Qazaq Carbon. The platform Goals Not only to solve environmental problems, but also to restore degraded land, conserve biodiversity and improve community well-being.

In May, Qazaq Carbon teamed up with public association Aral Oasis to implement it a number of projects in the Aral Sea region, which has largely dried up and become a lake area over the last 60 years Environmental disaster Zone.

After 2005, the World Bank’s eight-mile-long Kok-Aral Dam brought back water some areas. Elsewhere, efforts have focused on creating new ecosystems by planting saxaul – green, sturdy shrubs whose roots can absorb up to 8,818 pounds of sand.

“We are in the middle of the new desert, but as far as carbon content is concerned, it is terra incognita,” Sailybaev said, meaning that there are no ready solutions for measuring the carbon potential of Saxaul plots on the exposed Aral Sea floor.

Qazaq Carbon works with a Scottish company, Plan Vivoand based in Switzerland Open Forest Protocol. Both help small farmers generate CO2 credits. However, their expertise is largely focused on tropical and subtropical climates and is not directly transferable to Kazakhstan consists of 99 percent dryland. That’s why it’s important to think outside the box.

CO2 revenue, a financial lever for agricultural parks?!

In April trading prices in the European Union exceeded $60 per ton (2,200 pounds) of CO? Equivalent. But Kazakhstan’s oil sector, which is heavily dominated by state-owned companies, is unwilling to pay more than $5, according to Sailybaev.

Creating a voluntary carbon market will inevitably drive up prices, he added, resulting in higher electricity, gasoline and fuel bills. It is no surprise that the move has received little political support so far, he said. Introducing the auctioning of carbon credits requires changes to environmental and stock market legislation, but such measures have struggled to gain support in parliament.

Nevertheless, Sailybaev is ready to break new ground: “Kazakhstan lacks affordable long-term investments in agriculture; It is a high-risk business.” The idea is to use carbon units as a financial tool to create a value chain for the development of local agricultural parks.

Given Kazakhstan’s proximity to China, such agricultural parks have the potential to provide large new markets in China for Kazakh organic food grown according to European standards. “Carbon revenue would replace agricultural subsidies and make it a viable financial lever.”

Qazaq Carbon supports farmers in developing planting models with carbon targets in mind. Certification can be done through NGOs such as Plan Vivo. Sailybaev is also considering an e-currency backed by carbon units. This would be a way for companies to buy products directly from agricultural parks in exchange for carbon offsets, he said.

But despite all the zeal, there are still huge challenges. Large Kazakh customers, including banks and airlines, are reluctant to buy carbon units from small farmers, preferring package deals instead.

The emerging voluntary carbon market in Kazakhstan is unknown to US and EU traders working with Western industry. “We’re just starting out, we don’t have much background knowledge and the competition is tough,” he said.

The pricing machinery is also still in its infancy. Kazakhstan Emissions trading systemThe program, launched in 2013, has been criticized for creating a surplus of free quotas.

“The green economy is neo-nomadic”

Sailybaev is aware of the hurdles he faces. But as a former cultural scientist, he advocates a broader perspective. “The low-carbon economy is a cultural phenomenon. It’s about new ways of thinking and new values,” he said. “In the Aral Sea region, an entire generation grew up on alms,” he added Social benefits in the zone of environmental disaster. “And that corrupted people terribly.”

“Our goal is to help young people break out of this victim mentality,” he said. Aral Oasis and Qazaq Carbon launched in May “100 micro kindergartens.” The new project aims to empower communities to plant “green belt” seedlings.

“We want local people, especially women and girls, to grow saxaul saplings from seeds in three auls (villages),” he said Zauresh Alimbetova, Head of the public association Aral Oasis. “We will then buy these seedlings for 100 tenge (about $0.20) each and plant them on the (exposed parts of) the Aral Sea.”

The aim is to create an eco-corridor Barsakelmes Biosphere Reserve, a former island in the Aral Sea where free-roaming kulans (wild donkeys) and dzerens (goitered gazelles) live. By October 2025, around 250,000 seedlings will be planted on 300 hectares. At a later date, communities will also create “green belts” around their auls to prevent sand from entering.

So far the project has been funded by Freedom Holding Corp. And the GEF Small Grants Program. A crowdfunding platform will be launched in January to explore further financing options. High-resolution satellite maps will help track green developments online, and three Auls will compete in a bizarre duel.

Sailybaev is ready to play a long game. “We are preparing for the next 20 years,” he said. “We are the descendants of nomads. Autonomy, tolerance, openness, mobility and adaptability have accompanied us across the steppe.” These values, in modern form, will drive Kazakhstan’s green transition, he reflected. “They are actually neo-nomadic.”

Research for this article was made possible with support from the Pulitzer Center.

By Ekaterina Venkina via Eurasianet.org

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