There are a number of environmental issues in Kazakhstan, in large part due to its years under the Soviet Union. Partly because of the country's enormous semi-arid steppe, the Soviet government used Kazakhstan as its nuclear testing site. Along with near-absent pollution controls, this has contributed to an alarmingly high rate of disease in many rural areas. Kazakhstan has identified at least two major ecological disasters within its borders: the shrinking of the Aral Sea, and radioactive contamination at the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing facility (in fact a large zone south of Kourchatov (Курчатов)) and along the Chinese border. A steppe in Western Kazakhstan in early spring In physical geography, a steppe (Russian степь or step and pronounced in English as step) is a plain without trees (apart from those near rivers and lakes); it is similar to a prairie, although a prairie is generally considered as being dominated by... A nuclear test explosion is an experiment involving the detonation of a nuclear weapon. ... A disease is any abnormal condition of the body or mind that causes discomfort, dysfunction, or distress to the person affected or those in contact with the person. ... Map of area around the Aral Sea. ... The radiation warning symbol (trefoil). ... Semey (Семей, sometimes transliterated as Semij or Semei) is a city in north eastern Kazakhstan, near the border with Siberia. ...

The Central Asian Regional Environmental Center is located in Kazakhstan, which fosters regional cooperation on environmental issues.