Priorities of the State Environmental Policy of Russia and Kazakhstan: Global Agenda and Regional Projection

Abstract

The article discusses approaches to justifying and implementing nation-wide priorities in the field of environmental policy of Russia and Kazakhstan. Data on the role of national priorities as substantial determinants that define vectors and specific mechanisms for implementing environmental policy in post-Soviet countries and countries with the advanced market economy are systematised. The relationship between national priorities and priorities of supranational environmental policy implemented by global international organisations (UN - Sustainable Development Goals; EU - Environmental Policy Goals until 2050; BRICS - Environmental Initiatives) is substantiated. The key characteristics of national priorities in the field of environmental policy of Russia and Kazakhstan are compared, including review of the approaches of global international organisations; prioritised areas and fields of public environmental policy; implemented funding mechanisms and organisational forms; approaches to institutionalising the priorities of public environmental policy within the existing public administration system. Problems of implementation of environmental policy priorities in Russia and Kazakhstan are identified and their causes are substantiated. At the same time, special attention is paid to the study of how national priorities of environmental policy are translated into regional management decisions; identification of gaps between the formulated national priorities and their implementation procedures in specific industrial regions of Russia and Kazakhstan. The best practices for implementing environmental policy priorities at the national and regional levels are compared. Finally, conclusions about ways to improve environmental policy mechanisms and the possibilities of distribution of the best regional practices identified are drawn. The empirical basis of the analysis was obtained from the results of studies carried out as part of the research work "Improvement of the state policy regulation for accelerated clustering of the industrial regions", executed under grant financing of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. © 2020 Irina Turgel et al., published by Sciendo 2020.