Reconstruction of Botanical Garden

Maintenance and management of urban nature existing green areas, Management and improved protection of rivers and other blue areas, Knowledge creation and awareness raising, Improved governance of green or blue areas

-To follow a careful restoration of the botanical garden to preserve its integrity and distinctive green character and to increase the existing vegetation as much as possible; -To create an accessible, comfortable and safe public space for visitors; provide opportunities for education; -To showcase achievements of the Kazakhstan scientists in the field of dendrology, botany and phytointroduction and support further research in these field; -To equip the botanical garden with advanced irrigation, lighting and video surveillance systems for stable development. (1,2,4)

The reconstruction of the botanical garden focused on enhancing water supply, improving accessibility, safety, environmental friendliness, and convenience and to introducing new technologies in the botanical garden and the total cost of the project was 15 million US Dollars [1]. (1). The reconstruction efforts resulted in the planting of 174.3 thousand new plants, which included rare species and exclusive varieties. This consisted of over 1 300 new trees of various types such as pine, thuja, cherry, apple, pear, plum, oak, maple, birch, and linden, along with 40 thousand bushes, 130 thousand grasses and plurannual, and 3 thousand roses. Additionally, the sprinkling and irrigation system underwent restoration, which included the drilling of two new artesian wells with a capacity of 40 cubic meters per hour each, increasing the throughput capacity of two existing wells from 20 to 25 cubic meters per hour, and laying a water intake facility with a volume of 600 cubic meters of water per day from the Kerenkulak river. A 13-kilometre irrigation canal was also renewed, and drip irrigation and auto-irrigation systems were laid. Furthermore, six ponds were restored and re-created (1, 4, 5, 6). To modernize and make the garden more comfortable and environmentally-friendly, the open zones underwent a significant revision. Three new entrance pavilions with electronic ticketing systems, gift shops, and cafeterias were established. The northern parterre was renewed, featuring a "dry" fountain and a pond with aquatic plants, sakura trees, and flowers planted along the contour. In the submontane part of the garden, the southern parterre was created in place of the waste ground, which now has three ponds, a pergola, and a miscellaneous herbs field. The roads and the pathways throughout the garden were renewed, with a total area exceeding 50 thousand square meters. To ensure visitor safety, 250 new benches, 1,500 bottom lamps, and 130 video surveillance cameras were installed in the parterres and along the roads (4,5,6). To provide comfortable orientation and facilitate plant study, direction signs and information plates were placed across the park. A mobile application was also made available for Android and iOS devices to serve as an information guide on the plant's collections. To ensure that all areas of the garden were accessible to handicapped groups, wheelchair ramps and tactile paths were constructed (4, 5, 6).

• Researchers/University
• Citizens or community groups