Waste management in Kazakhstan an active agenda in the area of water management systems; Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan in the area of mountain ecosystems; Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have an active agenda in the area of biodiversity; and Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan in the area of combating desertification. The principal financing for regional projects is divided according to the following priorities: environmental problem of the Aral Sea 76% of total funds; protected mountain territories 16%; combating desertification and land degradation 2%; and other targeted projects 6%. It is obvious that trans-boundary issues - air and surface water pollution, waste utilization, combating densification of soil exposed to
Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan border awarding the city to Uzbekistan. Kazakhstan however gained the large city of Shymkent. A further complication were the Karakalpaks; the Soviets were unsure if they were Uzbeks, Kazakhs or a separate nationality altogether. Given the at-best weak sense of Karakalpak nationality, and their perceived closer links to the Kazakhs, they were given their own Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast within the Kazakh ASSR. This oblast was larger than the modern autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan and extended considerably further eastwards, thereby cutting the Uzbek SSR in two, with a small exclave around Khiva. Poor economic performance in the oblast convinced Soviet leaders that