Voice Over English translation

Ola Kitchen

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Video Narration

Description

This a narrative voice translation I did for a protester on a environmental podcast

Vocal Characteristics

Language

English

Voice Age

Middle Aged (35-54)

Accents

North American (Canadian-General) North American (General) North American (US Midwest- Chicago, Great Lakes)

Transcript

Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
In January of this year. Popular protests against the regime erupted across Kazakhstan and although they were ignited by rising fuel prices, the anger behind them spoke to a festering discontent with the government crushed with an iron fist and the assistance of Russian led CSTO forces. The first time the organization's troops have been deployed in such a manner. Over 6000 were killed and many more arrested. But what does the unrest mean for China which shares a 1100 mile border with Kazakhstan? Certainly president to Kiev's meeting with Z Jinping in Beijing on February the seventh seemed to indicate business as usual as did Z agreeing to visit Kazakhstan later this year. His first international visit since the pandemic began following that meeting, coverage in China moved onto offers of economic assistance to counter the threat posed to Kazakhstan by so called terrorism. With an increasing amount of commentators making baseless claims that the unrest had external origins in 2020 trade between China and Kazakhstan totaled 21 a half billion dollars. Much of this in the lucrative oil and gas sectors making China the country's fourth largest investor, Belt and Road initiative plans include projects in metallurgy, oil and gas came engineering, energy industry, agricultural processing and logistics compared to other foreign operators. However, Chinese companies tend to be less concerned about their environmental impact particularly in oil and gas ventures where no public data is available in villages near China National Petroleum Corporation CNPC. Projects. Locals have raised concerns about pollution and its associated health impacts whilst water exploitation has resulted in increased cases of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. I asked a question, Kazhegeldin who served as the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan from 1994 to 97. About the risks associated with investing in the country in these uncertain times. The last almost 10 years. It was one scandal after another involving a family with huge corruption scheme and all these major reputation is very poor. Reputation is becoming much more because there is not a political stability, there is no guarantee to invest money in Kazakh economy. There is huge corruption. I spoke to Dr Christopher White's associate professor and geographer at Kimbap University in Alma And asked him whether given recent political instability, China will continue to increase its investments in Kazakhstan. And whether President Xi Jinping has promised to make China carbon neutral by 2060 is dependent on passing China's carbon footprint on to Kazakhstan. The respect to energy. Of course, China's oil investments here I think is well established now with the Belt and Road initiative. Just want to be clear, we're talking about one specific piece in that colossal infrastructure project, the over land route linking China with Europe. The realities of geography dictate Kazakhstan its importance in this piece of the Belt and Road initiative, perhaps symbolic but for Further evidence of Kazakhstan's importance. Here in 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled the belt and road initiative. Okay this unprecedented colossal infrastructure project and the location from which this announcement was made. Kazakhstan's capital city China's carbon footprint be passed on to Kazakhstan. This question seems to assume that other industries might follow the crypto mining industry which recently moved to Kazakhstan essentially because China banned it. I have to question whether or not Kazakhstan will be able to absorb what we're assuming to be more and more co two emitting industries. Can the power grid handle it? And I'm afraid the answer might be no, it seems that the next destination could be. Russia. Russia also has cheap power. In that case, of course, this part of China's carbon footprint is even moving beyond Kazakhstan to Russia in December 2021 the US based NGO crude accountability released the report Road to China which examined the social and environmental costs of Chinese investments in Central Asia's energy sector. I spoke to its co founder and executive director, Kate Waters and asked her about the impact of China's oil and gas investments and a complaint filed with the U N Human Rights Council with regard to environmental pollution and lack of access to safe and clean drinking water. Cnpc's operations in Kazakhstan have had significant environmental impacts on local populations. Villagers near operations run by Petrokazakhstan, for example, which is a subsidiary of CNPC complained that there are drinking water wells are drying up and that the facility amid strong odors, especially at night. There are other examples of communities near operations run by CNPC or their subsidiaries which have created significant environmental and health problems for communities, whether it's drinking water problems, whether it's emissions in the air, inability to clean up the area around the facility. There's a variety of different risks that communities face with regard to the complaint that was filed with the U N Human Rights Council with regard to those affected by China's State oil operations in Kazakhstan. You know access to clean drinking water is a basic human right? And the fact that Chinese oil and gas operations are threatening that access to drinking water should be a huge concern for the Kazakhstani government as well as for the corporations that are creating the problem. And so our hope in strong belief is that the United Nations will take this complaint very seriously as it's a violation of a fundamental human right in this repressive climate if you are willing to raise their voices. But an exception to the rule is a Sheva from the village of Kinky Yak in the October region of western Kazakhstan, the site of vast oil fields CMPC arrived 25 years ago since when locals have suffered from water pollution and shortages. According to data from echo service, 92.1% of villages in Kinky Yak face unhealthy living conditions. Many suffer from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases with airborne hydrogen sulfide levels. 13 times above the legal limit spoke with me from the office of the local governor. The number of jobs for locals hasn't increased and many remain unemployed as companies will only hire those who can afford to pay a bribe. In the last year, the local water supply has improved but the quality of water is still poor and the water smells of oil. Of course, the residents are unhappy about this. The local authorities have demanded that the oil companies changed their production technology. Local Governor Maka Genov however, is promising brighter times ahead for the past six months. The local authorities have begun to impose tough requirements on oil companies currently production at 26. Whales has been stopped at the cox it. Underground water field companies are being required to adopt horizontal drilling technologies which will make production more expensive but more environmentally friendly. Asked to comment, CNPC declines to respond.