Kazakhstan Is Becoming Greener

Kazakhstan is making significant progress in expanding its forests and increasing greenery in urban and rural areas. As part of the implementation of the instructions of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, more than 1.6 billion tree seedlings have been planted in the state forest fund over the past five years, while 18.1 million trees have been planted in cities and villages across the country.

According to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan (MENR), as of December 2025, the total area of the state forest fund amounted to 31.4 million hectares, covering 11.5% of the country's territory. Forest-covered land accounts for 13.9 million hectares, while the national forest cover stands at 5.1%.

To fulfill the President's directive to plant 2 billion trees in the state forest fund, Kazakhstan has planted and sown a total of 1.6484 billion trees across 1.074 million hectares since 2021.

The planting target for 2025 was 370.7 million trees over 238,500 hectares. However, actual results exceeded expectations, with 497.9 million trees planted and sown across 337,800 hectares.

The planting plan for 2026 provides for 208.5 million trees to be planted over an area of 65,300 hectares.

In addition, between 2021 and 2025, afforestation and land rehabilitation work was carried out on more than 1 million hectares of the dried seabed of the Aral Sea, where 53.2 million saxaul seedlings were planted.

To implement the President's instruction to plant 15 million trees within populated areas, regional greening plans and urban green belt development programs are being carried out across Kazakhstan's regions, as well as in the cities of Astana, Almaty, and Shymkent. Since 2021, a total of 18.1 million trees have been planted in populated areas, including 3.8 million trees planted in 2025 alone.