Children in Kazakhstan learn to measure air quality

Earlier this year, the United Nations Children’s Fund in Kazakhstan (UNICEF) and the Social-Ecological Fund (SEF), an environmental protection and sustainable development non-profit in Kazakhstan, provided air quality sensors to 22 schools participating in a project to engage youth in climate change and environmental issues.

The city education departments in Almaty, Karaganda and Temirtau identified the schools that received the air quality sensors. Students and project volunteers used the sensors in lessons to develop practical environmental protection skills. This approach allows children to actively participate in monitoring environmental quality and take responsibility for protecting the environment.

Vadim Ni, a United Nations environmental law expert and head of the Socio-Ecological Fund, noted that providing these 22 sensors to measure PM2.5, PM10, and indoor CO2 ranges to schools and allowing students to take their own air quality measurements teaches them practice skills and about the threat air pollution poses to their health.

"Youth participation in such initiatives is an important step in shaping an eco-conscious lifestyle and should result in a cleaner and healthier environment for all children in our country," said Anna Stativkina, Climate Change Officer at UNICEF Kazakhstan.

In 2023, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child confirmed that children have the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, especially in a rapidly changing climate. Published on August 28, 2023, General Comment No. 26 on Children's Rights and the Environment with a Special Focus on Climate Change directly addresses the climate emergency, biodiversity destruction, and widespread pollution while outlining countermeasures to protect children's lives and futures.

The Socio-Ecological Fund and UNICEF in Kazakhstan joined forces in autumn 2023 to launch the #Volunteers4climate programme. This programme aims to involve Kazakhstan’s youth in environmental activities and promote climate change, sustainable energy use, and environmental protection issues. The partners implemented this initiative as part of the Healthy Environment for Healthy Children programme currently active in 14 countries, including Kazakhstan.

Participation in the #Volunteers4climate programme gives young citizens the opportunity not only to analyze air quality data but also to learn environmentally friendly habits to pass on to schoolchildren in Kazakhstan’s regions most exposed to pollution and climate change. In addition, SEF and UNICEF Kazakhstan have supported environmental hackathons in Almaty, Karaganda and Temirtau and are funding local student’s environmental projects being implemented between October 2023 and May 2024.