Scientific Collaboration for Sustainable Development in North Kazakhstan Region

As part of the BR 24993222 program, "Developing a Decision Support System for the Natural and Economic Organization of the Territory of the North Kazakhstan Region in the Context of Sustainable Development," a group of scientists involved in the program, including Yermekov F.K., Imanmadi D., Kerimov U.K., Abdygaliev S.S., Bekturganov A.E., Karabkin N.N., and Seysenbikyzy B., were sent on a business trip to Lanzhou and Beijing, China, from December 8 to 16, 2024. The purpose of the trip: to discuss the 2025 project calendar plan and to reschedule some of the tasks initially planned for 2026 to 2025. These tasks include publishing articles, preparing materials for writing a monograph, and developing an educational program. During the trip, scientists from China and Kazakhstan reached a consensus on formulating joint tasks aimed at implementing the program's calendar plan and strategically planning future collaboration.

Research work on sustainable development was conducted in the North Kazakhstan region

From November 5 to 10, 2024, a team of scientists from the Kazakh National Agrarian Research University conducted a business trip to Petropavl, North Kazakhstan region. The trip was organized within the framework of the program “Creation of a system to ensure solutions for the natural-economic development of the North Kazakhstan region under conditions of sustainable development” (BR 24993222).

The sustainable development of rural areas is characterized, on the one hand, by significant natural resource limitations that shape long-term prospects, and on the other hand, by defining opportunities for the socio-economic development of rural communities, economic diversification, and environmental engineering. The research is based on the hypothesis that the North Kazakhstan region has low transportation, communication, social-demographic, and economic indicators, which together form an insufficient level of economic development in the region. It is expected to have relatively low indicators of economic resilience to natural-climatic, political, and economic fluctuations.

To achieve the set goals, various methods are planned to be applied, including geoinformation mapping, data normalization and aggregation methods, remote sensing using stereoscopic, multispectral, thermal, radar imaging, gravimetry, multi-criteria analytical modeling, analytical hierarchy processes, and the development of a decision support system.

• Development of sustainable agricultural practices.
• Improvement of crop resilience to climate changes.
• Reduction of agricultural waste.

• Development of conceptual foundations for the arrangement of the North Kazakhstan region based on principles of sustainable growth.
• Analysis of global practices for efficient land development using spatial-landscape arrangements.
• Assessment of climate, water, and land components for land development.
• Evaluation of labor resources as a basis for socio-economic development.
• Assessment of transport and communication opportunities and service accessibility.
• Evaluation of the economic efficiency of sustainable development in the studied areas.
• Creation of a series of digital maps for land use and spatial arrangements.
• Identification of the optimal spatial-landscape planning for the region considering labor and land resources and economic potential.
• Development of measures for sustainable growth in the North Kazakhstan region, aligning settlements with land and water resources while defining necessary socio-economic conditions.
• Formulation of guidelines and instructions in the field of regional planning and land use.
• Recommendations for amendments to the development program of the North Kazakhstan region.

• No results have been presented yet.

Within the program, an analysis of global practices for efficient land development using spatial-landscape arrangement will be conducted. Climate, water, and land resources will be evaluated using modern GIS and remote sensing technologies, including stereoscopic, multispectral, thermal satellite imagery, radar sensing, and gravimetry.

A multi-criteria analytical model will also be organized, incorporating information layers of retrospective and forecast data in time differentiation for labor resources, transport, and communication opportunities, as well as economic efficiency of sustainable development in the studied territories. Based on the obtained data, a series of digital maps for land use and spatial planning will be developed, and the optimal option for spatial-landscape planning will be determined.

The program includes the development of an adaptive concept for the sustainable development of the natural and economic structure of the North Kazakhstan region. This concept includes a set of measures ensuring effective risk management in the context of climate change, geopolitical and economic conditions, as well as natural disasters that negatively impact the region's development and its ecosystem.

One of the key features of the program is the scaling of previously developed land-use technologies (based on GIS, remote sensing, and process-analytical hierarchy methods), creating conditions for the development of irrigated agriculture using meltwater in the North Kazakhstan region, and the establishment of a decision support system (DSS) for regional planning and spatial arrangement.

The DSS will include three specialized modules:

• Potential of land use
• Risks associated with pollution and geotechnical hazards
• Data related to the assessment of economic viability of existing facilities

The program implementation will ensure:

• Methodology for creating digital relief models (DRM) and terrain models (DTM) based on up-to-date and large-scale data
• Organization of a multi-criteria analytical model
• Development of a decision support system for regional planning

As part of the implementation of the program, the following publications and results are planned:

• 9 (nine) articles and/or reviews in peer-reviewed scientific journals within the program's scientific direction, included in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd quartile by impact factor in the Web of Science database and/or with a CiteScore percentile of at least 50 in the Scopus database.
• 10 (ten) articles in journals recommended by the Committee for Control in Education and Science (CCES).
• 1 (one) monograph recommended by the KazNAIU Academic Council.
• 5 (five) intellectual property objects (patent; for IT-related applications — copyright certificate) registered with the National Institute of Intellectual Property of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Patent details:

• Example 1: Information included in the patent.
• Example 2: Additional information related to the patent.

Useful information for potential users:

• Example 1: Useful data for users.
• Example 2: Practical applications of the project.