Biomass Resources of Phragmites australis in Kazakhstan: Historical Developments, Utilization, and Prospects

Abstract

Common reed (Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. Ex Steud.) is a highly productive wetland plant and a potentially valuable source of renewable biomass worldwide. There is more than 10 million ha of reed area globally, distributed mainly across Eurasia followed by America and Africa. The literature analysis in this paper revealed that Kazakhstan alone harbored ca. 1,600,000–3,000,000 ha of reed area, mostly distributed in the deltas and along the rivers of the country. Herein, we explored the total reed biomass stock of 17 million t year⁻¹ which is potentially available for harvesting in the context of wise use of wetlands. The aim of this paper is to reveal the distribution of reed resource potential in wetland areas of 13 provinces of Kazakhstan and the prospects for its sustainable utilization. Reed can be used as feedstock as an energy source for the production of pellets and biofuels, as lignocellulosic biomass for the production of high strength fibers for novel construction and packaging materials, and innovative polymers for lightweight engineering plastics and adhesive coatings. Thereby, it is unlikely that reed competes for land that otherwise is used for food production.

1. Introduction

Oil, gas, and coal deposits are limited fossil resources, and their combustion contributes to climate change by releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Finiteness of those resources and necessity to reduce the CO₂ burden of the atmosphere significantly increase the importance of biomass as a resource for energy production or as a chemical feedstock for innovative utilization pathways within knowledge-based production [1,2]. This shift is often called bioeconomy, and its growth augments the use of biomass as a primary renewable feedstock for material and energy use [3,4,5]. Increasing the supply of biomass, however, often results in competition with food and feed production, and leads, in the short or long term, to food-feed-fuel conflicts, for example, in the case of increased utilization of corn or other food crops as feedstock for biogas or biofuels [6,7,8]. To minimize these aforesaid food-feed-fuel conflicts, sites unsuitable for regular farming can be utilized for biomass production. Significant potential against this background is seen in the conservation and wise use of wetlands and reed bed areas [9,10,11]. While their sustainable management for benefits of the exploitation of reed has become increasingly attractive from the economic perspective [12,13], the growing demand for sustainable biomass portrays wetlands and reed bed areas as increasingly interesting for a circular bioeconomy. In this context, widespread wetland plant common reed (Phragmites australis) has become an increasingly attractive source of renewable biomass from its monotonous reed beds. Next to their high productivity, they also provide a broad range of ecosystem services (e.g., resources provision, recreation, flood mitigation, and aesthetics) and a habitat of wildlife [14,15,16,17].

Globally, there are more than 10 million ha of reed bed area, as calculated by [18] and summarized in a review study [19], mostly spread across Eurasia followed by America [20]. About half of the total area exists in the former Soviet Union [21,22,23], shared mainly by Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries [24,25].

For a couple of decades, reed beds have been neglected in the research, regardless of this fact, Kazakhstan harbors about two million ha and, more importantly, it is the country with one of the most substantial reed bed areas worldwide according to [26] cited in [27]. While the spatial distribution and assessed area of wetlands and reed biomass resources have been previously demonstrated for the Ili Delta in southeast Kazakhstan [28], to date, a limited attempt has been made to conduct any assessment across the country. Against this background, this study focused on the type of information that is available about the number of reed resources, its development, and spatial distribution. The purpose of this study was to determine the resource potential and biomass perspectives of common reed (Phragmites australis) in Kazakhstan. The research looks at the driving forces of past, current, and future developments of reed resources and how they influence the utilization of reed resources.

The study was motivated by three main questions as follows:

• What is the current development and state of reed resources in Kazakhstan?
• What are the driving forces of wetlands and reed bed areas change in Kazakhstan?
• What past, current, and future utilization of reed resources are documented and possible in the future?

In addressing these research questions, detailed data on reed bed areas and visual illustration of their spatial distribution in the 13 provinces of the country are provided. Moreover, the drivers affecting the development of wetland areas across Kazakhstan and a showcase of the largest in Central Asia, the Ili Delta, as a wetland complex lying downstream in a transboundary river basin is provided with retrospective analyses in the changes of wetlands and reed bed areas in the course of the last 50 years. The research was conducted using the narrative literature review method based on the international and, in particular, the Russian and Kazakh literature. The authors used archive materials and reports available for the period of study, publications, dissertations, several internationally funded project reports, and their findings from investigations on the experience of projects fulfilled in Ili Delta, Balkhash Lake, Kazakhstan. This publication improves our knowledge about wetlands and reed bed areas in dryland regions and their importance as a core from which a bioeconomy can obtain its feedstock. Given the limited information on reed biomass resources in a drylans country such as a Kazakhstan, this paper also contributes towards advancing the knowledge on the current assessment of reed biomass resources and their potential as a valuable source of renewable biomass for a bioeconomy in Kazakhstan and beyond.

In an attempt to present the resource potential and biomass perspectives of Phragmites australis in Kazakhstan, we developed a structure for the review, based on literature related to reed, its resources, and distribution in wetland areas of Kazakhstan. The review consists of four sections. In Section 1, we highlight the distribution of common reed and its biomass potential globally with the share of Kazakhstan. In Section 2, we identify the current reed resources based on the most recent available data on reed bed distribution in wetland areas of Kazakhstan with an emphasis on a historical overview of reed resources in the largest wetland complex in the region, i.e., Ili Delta. In Section 3, we specify the driving forces of change in the wetlands and reed bed areas in Kazakhstan. In Section 4, the review discerns past, current, and prospect developments of reed resources and their utilization in Kazakhstan. Lastly, in the Discussion and Conclusion section we identify the limitation of the study and summarize the outcome information referred to research questions.

2. Reed Ecology and Share of Kazakhstan in the Global Reed Biomass Potential

2.1. Ecology and Distribution of the Common Reed

Common reed (Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. Ex Steud.) is one of the widespread wetland plants worldwide. Europe, the Middle East, and America are the core distribution areas, according to Haslam [20]. It grows mostly in wetlands on the shores of lakes and gulfs, along riverbanks, and on nutrient-rich peatlands. Usually, it forms large monospecies stands in virtue of the monocultural nature and it has a tendency to propagate vegetatively. The preferred water level ranges from slightly below the soil surface to one meter above ground level. However, on the one hand, it can also grow in deep water, with some cases up to about four meters in highly transparent oligotrophic waters. On the other hand, reed also grows in soils with groundwater levels of one to two meters below the surface [29,30]. It forms small stands at desert margins with water tables of around four meters below the ground surface. Although reed mainly grows in fresh water, it can also grow in up to 16% salt water, which exhibits its tolerance or adaptability potential to these scenarios [31,32].

Only reed rhizomes are perennial and, in colder climates, the aboveground part of the plant dies after the growing season [33]. Nutrients are relocated from the stem and leaves down to the rhizomes and stored there for the next growing season [34]. Although reed can germinate from seeds, sexual reproduction takes place to a limited extent [35]. In contrast, its reproduction in a vegetative way is much more prevalent [36]. Having a strong ability to propagate from rhizomes, it forms a dense, impenetrable layer where very few other species can compete. Therefore, in areas where reed settles as a pioneer plant, it forms a stable monospecific stand with its absolute predominance [36,37]. As P. australis can spread very rapidly into new areas and persist there, it is seen as an invasive species harmful to both species diversity and wildlife habitat in some areas around the world (e.g., North America and Oceania) [38,39,40].

2.2. Global Reed Biomass Potential and Share of Kazakhstan

Reed is a tall, highly productive perennial sweet grass according to [13,19]. Although aboveground net primary production varies from less than three t ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ to as much as 30 t ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ [41], the highest yields of 60 t ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ has been observed on the coast of the Red Sea [13]. As a cosmopolitan vegetation, it occurs all over the world (except in Antarctica) with the global area more than 10 million ha, as summarized in

Table 1. Reed bed areas and aboveground biomass in different countries, updated with the most recent available data on reed beds area after [19].

Site/Region/Country	Reed Beds Area (ha)	Average Productivity (t ha−1 year−1)	Total Biomass (t year−1)
Former USSR 1 (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)
Estonia	27,899 (12,970 harvestable)	6.8	88,368
Only lakes, Latvia	13,400 (10,826 harvestable)	7.2	97,000
Curonian Lagoon, Lithuania	4995	-	-
Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia	200–300	-	-
Danube Delta, Ukraine	105,055	5	50,000
Regions and provinces of Russia	>1,715,000	-	-
Kazakhstan	1,600,000–3,000,000	8.2	17,000,000
Uzbekistan	1,560,000 (372,630 harvestable)	16	5,961,960
Turkmenistan	1,000,000	-	-
European Countries
Poland	60,000	-	-
South Finland	30,000 (15,000 harvestable)	10	150,000
South Sweden	230,000	5	1,150,000
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany	1500
The Netherlands	9000 (2850 harvested)	-	-
Lake Neusiedl, Austria	60,000 (36,000 harvestable)	7	28,500
United Kingdom	7700 managed for conservation	-	-
Danube Delta, Romania	200,000 (125,000 harvested)	26	3,250,000
Hungary	26,200	-	-
America
Brackish, salt and tidal marshes, USA	1,800,000	-	-
Asia
NW, N, NE, and coastal east China 2	1,005,000 (484,000 harvested)	5.5	5,527,500
North and South Korea	30,000 and 20,000	-	-
Iraq	17,300	-	-
Globally	>10,000,000	-	>30,000,000

¹ The total area of the former USSR was 5,500,000 ha. ² Reed covered an area of 1 million ha (484,000 ha of planted reed) outside of protected areas in China, in 2004.

by [19]. Having a minimal annual harvested yield of three t ha⁻¹ of dry biomass, reed has a theoretical global biomass potential of at least 30 million t year⁻¹.

3. Wetlands and Reed Bed Areas Distribution in Kazakhstan

3.1. Wetlands, Reed Beds, and the Transboundary Water Situation in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan with a total area of just over 2.72 million km² is the world’s largest landlocked country. Located in Central Asia, it is covered mainly by drylands. Due to its geographical location, Kazakhstan has a sharp continental arid to semiarid climate, which is characterized by a strong north-south gradient in temperature and precipitation and a gradient from lowlands to high mountain areas [42]. More than 80% of the total country’s area account as steppes and temperate (or winter-cold) deserts with precipitation of 150–200 mm year⁻¹ in the center and the south; only in the northern part of Kazakhstan precipitation exceeds 300 mm year⁻¹ [43,44]. Average annual rainfall in mountain areas can reach 880 mm.

The region of Central Asia is home to many large rivers surrounded by endorheic (i.e., missing an outlet to the ocean) basins with several thousand lakes. As the main lifeline in drylands, they form essential habitats such as wetlands with the vast areas of reed beds. Kazakhstan alone has more than 3000 natural lakes with a surface area larger than 1 km² and more than 200 water reservoirs [45]. The major rivers in Kazakhstan, i.e., Syr Darya, Ili, Irtysh, Chu, and the Ural, all originate in mountain areas of one or more neighboring countries but have their middle and lower reaches in Kazakhstan and eventually drain into inland deltas or end lakes also in Kazakhstan. Many of the small lakes are part of small river basins that are not shared with other countries. Many of those small lakes are not perennial, as they depend on the autumn and spring precipitation and dry out during the hot and dry summers.

Under the semiarid and arid conditions in most parts of Kazakhstan, those major and transboundary rivers are of high economic importance. As in neighboring Central Asian countries, a significant part of the population inhabits the basins of those rivers and is engaged in irrigated farming, which practically produces the total agricultural output [46,47]. However, there is a competitive demand for water among countries and regions in the country due to the existing uneven distribution of water resources, which has been resulting in the current upstream-downstream conflicts over the past three decades [48].

Consequently, today these conflicts over water pose a high risk to the economies of the region, to regional cooperation, and security [49,50]. In this regard, Kazakhstan, being downstream, is more vulnerable to future water shortages than neighboring upstream countries. In addition to the competition between upstream and downstream countries and regions, there is also competition for water between various water users within the country, such as natural ecosystems and irrigated agriculture [51,52]. This is amplified against the background of ever-increasing water consumption due to a reasonably high population growth rate. The depletion of water sources and their pollution, along with climate change, contribute to further deterioration of sanitary and environmental conditions.

3.2. Historical Distribution of Reed Bed Areas in Kazakhstan

One of the first to publish data on areas under reed beds was the Institute of Economics of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR (Soviet Socialistic Republic), in 1962. Reed beds in the country accounted for about 1,042,000 ha (

Table 2. Reed bed areas distribution in different provinces of Kazakh SSR (source [53], 1958 cited in [54], 1964).

Province Names *	Reed Beds Area (ha)	Average Productivity (t ha−1 year−1)	Total Biomass (t year−1)	Largest Reed Bed Sites
Alma-Ata	250,000	15	3,750,000	Ili River and tributaries of Lake Balkhash
Guryev	170,000	15	2,550,000	The northern coast of the Caspian Sea, Rivers Emba and the Ural
Kzyl-Orda	126,000	15	1,890,000	Syr Darya River, Lake Aschikul
Dzhambul	97,000	15	1,455,000	Rivers Chu, Talas and Kuragaty, Lake Balkhash
Chimkent	73,000	15	1,095,000	Rivers Syr Darya and Chu
Taldy-Kurgan	65,000	15	975,000	Ili River, Lakes Alakul and Sasykkul
Kustanai	58,000	12	696,000	Turgai River and Lakes Sarymoni, Zharkul, Sarykopa, and Kamyshlykul
Aktyubinsk	55,000	15	2,550,000	Rivers Temir, Emba and Big Hobda
Uralsk	40,000	10	400,000	-
Semipalatinsk	40,000	12	480,000	Irtysh River, Lakes Alakul and Sasykkul
East Kazakhstan	22,000	10	220,000	Irtysh River and Lake Zaysan
Tselinograd	15,000	10	150,000	Lake Tengiz, Ishim River and its tributaries
Kokchetav	10,000	8	50,000	-
Pavlodar	10,000	8	80,000	Irtysh River
Karaganda	6000	8	48,000	Taldy River
North Kazakhstan	5000	8	40,000	Ishim River
Total	1,042,000	14	14,679,000

* The names of the provinces are given for the administrative-territorial division of Kazakh SSR until 1962.

).

However, this area was corrected by [55] specifying it as the main reed beds of industrial importance and recorded according to the data of the Institute of Economics, as well as the Land Management Department of Regional Agricultural Administrations, the temporary scientific and technical commission of the State Scientific and Technical Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and the Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 1964.

Moreover, according to [54] the Institute of Economics underestimated the reed bed area, since reed beds were taken into account only in 66 out of 192 administrative districts and only high-yielding reed beds available for industrial use were considered (See Appendix A for more detailed information). Hereupon, [54] included all provinces, as well as reed beds beyond the high yielding ones. Areas, productivity, and biomass stocks are given in

Table 3. Reed bed areas, productivity, and reed biomass stocks in various provinces of Kazakh SSR (source [54], 1964).

Province Names	Reed Beds Area (ha)		Average Productivity (t ha−1 year−1)	Biomass Stocks (t)
	Total	Including Accounted		Total	Including Accounted
Alma-Ata *	500,000	457,658	11	5,500,000	5,033,000
Kzyl-Orda	400,000	84,990	11	4,400,000	935,000
Guryev	275,000	-	8	2,200,000	-
Dzambul	100,000	88,355	12	1,200,000	1,059,000
Chimkent	100,000	87,540	8	800,000	700,000
Kustanai	85,000	80,802	6	510,000	480,000
Aktyubinsk	60,000	48,733	6	360,000	292,000
Kokchetav	60,000	56,079	6	360,000	336,000
Semipalatinsk	50,000	46,400	8	400,000	371,000
Tselinograd	50,000	38,400	8	400,000	307,000
East Kazakhstan	40,000	31,218	10	400,000	312,000
North Kazakhstan	35,000	29,698	5	175,000	134,000
Uralsk	15,000	13,400	8	120,000	108,000
Pavlodar	15,000	11,971	5	75,000	60,000
Karaganda	15,000	13,430	6	75,000	67,000
Total	1,800,000	1,088,674	-	16,975,000	10,194,000

* Due to territorial rearranges the Alma-Ata Province unites the so-called Alma-Ata and Taldy-Kurgan Provinces.

. The estimated dry biomass stock for the whole Kazakh SSR was nearly 17 million t.

Figure 1 shows the reed bed distribution across Kazakhstan, as of 1964. Two-thirds of all reed beds are located in the southern part as follows: in the basins of the Syr Darya, Shu, and Ili Rivers, and on the coast of the Caspian Sea, including the Ural Delta.

Studies, conducted in 1979–1993, showed that the area occupied by high-yielding reed beds of industrial significance decreased by 70–95% in the Kzyl-Orda, Dzhambyl, Chimkent, and Alma-Ata Provinces as compared with the data of 1960 (

Table 4. Changes in high-yielding reed beds of industrial significance in Kazakhstan from 1960 to 1990/1993 (source [55]).

Province Names	Until 1960			1990–1993
	Reed Beds Area (ha)	Average Productivity (t ha−1 year−1)	Production Stock (t)	Reed Beds Area (ha)	Average Productivity (t ha−1 year−1)	Production Stock (t)
Alma-Ata	250,000	15	3,750,000	26,400	8.0	180,000
Guryev	170,000	15	2,550,000	51,000	8.5	433,500
Kzyl-Orda	126,000	15	1,890,000	11,800	8.6	86,600
Dzambul	97,000	15	1,455,000	8700	6.5	64,500
Chimkent	73,000	15	1,095,000	7200	8.6	63,000
Taldy-Kurgan	65,000	15	975,000	18,100	8.5	154,000
Kustanai	58,000	12	696,000	31,600	10.0	316,000
Aktyubinsk	55,000	14	770,000	33,500	10.0	335,000
Uralsk	40,000	10	400,000	32,000	10.0	320,000
Semipalatinsk	40,000	12	480,000	15,000	8.5	127,500
East Kazakhstan	22,000	10	220,000	13,200	8.5	82,200
Tselinograd	15,000	10	150,000	7500	8.0	61,000
Kokchetav	10,000	8	80,000	6000	7.0	42,000
Pavlodar	10,000	8	80,000	6000	7.0	42,000
Karaganda	6000	8	48,000	3500	7.0	24,500
North Kazakhstan	5000	8	40,000	3000	7.0	21,000
Total	1,042,000	-	14,679,000	274,300	-	2,352,700

), which are the provinces where the Syr Darya, Shu, and Ili River Basins are located. Reed beds in other provinces shrunk by 20–45% in areas and by 40–50% in terms of yields as compared to 1960.

3.3. A Showcase of a Historical Overview of Reed Resources in the Ili Delta

The Ili Delta is the only reed bed area, where the size and distribution of wetlands and reed bed areas were studied several times between the 1960s and today. These studies were done in the context of construction and filling of the Kapchagay Reservoir in the 1970s and 1980s, which is upstream of the Ili Delta. Later, studies were done, as the Ili Delta became one of the largest rather undisturbed wetland complexes after the Aral Sea had desiccated and adjacent deltas had shrunk substantially [56].

These studies tracked the changes of reed bed areas and related them to external factors, such as climate and anthropogenic impacts, which eventually informed how other reed beds across Kazakhstan could have changed from the 1960s until today.

Table 5. Changes in high-yielding reed beds of industrial significance in the Ili Delta from 1960 to 2014/2015.

Years	Total Reed Beds Area (ha)	Area of Production Reed Beds (ha)	Average Productivity (t ha−1 year−1)	Total Biomass (t year−1)	Reference
Until 1960	363,200	142,700	15	5,448,000	Demidovskaya [54]
1990–1993	38,354	15,069	8	306,832	Isambaev [55]
2014–2015	211,778	85,400	10.2	2,155,218	Thevs et al. [28]

shows that the reed bed area in the Ili Delta dropped sharply from the 1960s until the beginning of the 1990s, but has grown substantially until today. The former is clearly attributed to the construction and filling of the Kapchagay Reservoir (see [56] and further literature there) and the creation of the Akdala irrigation unit. After the Kapchagay Reservoir was not further filled, more water was released downstream into the Ili Delta, which caused reed beds to increase again. This process was presumably supported by enhanced glacier melt in the headwaters and increased river runoffs as a result, which would be in line with a general trend of enhanced glacier melt in the course of climate change [57].

The numbers in Table 5 are in line with a change detection of vegetation indices from Landsat satellite images spanning from 1973 to 2013 [58]. The change detection revealed large areas of decreasing vegetation index from 1973–1990 and large areas of increasing vegetation index after 1990.

The time period after 2000, with regard to wetland distribution in the Ili Delta and other Ramsar Sites in Kazakhstan, was covered by Tesch and Thevs [59]. From 2000 to 2018, the reed bed area had not changed or slightly increased in most Ramsar Sites, also in the Ili Delta. Despite this general trend, there were fluctuations in reed bed areas within this time span. In the Ili Delta, after a period of increasing reed bed area until 2010, the area decreased from 2010 to 2015 but increased again after 2015.

After Kazakhstan’s independence, agriculture and irrigation receded, and therefore more water became available for natural riparian ecosystems in many river basins. Extrapolating these findings from the Ili Delta to other wetlands and reed bed areas of Kazakhstan, it can be concluded that reed bed areas shrank from the 1960s until the 1990s, but afterwards increased their areas again, although not reaching the sizes of the 1960s.

4. Driving Forces of Wetlands and Reed Bed Areas Change in Kazakhstan

4.1. Drivers of Wetlands and Reed Bed Areas Loss and Degradation

The most significant drivers of wetlands’ change in Kazakhstan are mainly anthropogenic activities linked to the forms and scale of land use and water allocation in the basins of major rivers. Due to arid and semiarid climatic conditions, agriculture development in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries largely depends on water supply from mostly big transboundary rivers. Deliberate diversion of their water from its ordinary course with further stream diversions and withdrawals is the most pervasive way for irrigation. Although it contributes to the crop irrigation and land-use intensification, however, it often alters water regimes of wetlands and reed beds causing water levels to recede drastically.

According to Isambaev [55], regulation of the runoff of the Syr Darya, Talas, Chu, Ili, and Karatal Rivers after 1960 with the expansion of irrigated agriculture contributed to the absence of spring-summer floods along the rivers and lead to dramatic shrinking of reed bed areas (see Table 4). Thus, intensification of land use along major rivers and mainly in their upper catchment area resulted in water scarcity in the dry areas at the lower reaches, which are especially sensitive to water fluctuations. Furthermore, it resulted in ecological problems, such as land and vegetation degradation and biodiversity loss, as recent studies have revealed dramatic environmental, morphological, and areal changes of different Central Asian inland water bodies and lakes in the past decades [45,60,61,62]. Under these circumstances, terminal lakes and wetlands with reed bed areas in the semi-desert zone of Kazakhstan are regarded threatened due to an intensification of water use.

Fire is another significant threat for the reed beds that are located on non-submerged sites, meadow vegetation, parts of the Tugai forests, and shrub vegetation and their associated fauna. Fires are ignited by local people mainly in reed beds and partly other vegetation types to remove dead biomass, and thus enhance the productivity of reed to use it as pasture or hay meadow. Traditionally, such fires were most often ignited in winter or early spring, and usually with control for the least threat to fauna. However, today some fires are also ignited in summer and often get out of control [63,64]. Such uncontrolled fires destroy the habitat of wildlife (mainly mammals and birds) and decrease the productivity of the vegetation.

4.2. Drivers of Wetlands and Reed Beds Area Protection and Wise Use

Wetlands across Central Asia have been experiencing long-term degradation and are among the regions which are most severely affected by land degradation [59]. In particular, during the 20th and early 21st centuries, the rate of wetlands degradation dramatically increased due to human intervention. The most prominent example is the Aral Sea with the deltas of its main tributaries, the Amu Darya in Uzbekistan and the Syr Darya in Kazakhstan. Their desiccation has resulted from increased water diversion further upstream for irrigated agriculture. Environmental changes are observed in all-natural climatic zones, gradually intensifying downstream in the rivers and most significantly in the zone of runoff consumption. Subsequently, the Tengiz-Korgalzhyn Lakes System and Lakes in the Lower Irgiz and Turgai Rivers were the first sites located on the territory of the former Kazakh SSR that have been simultaneously listed on the Ramsar list by the Soviet Union Government, when it joined that convention in 1975 [65]. Both wetlands were relisted after the ratification of the Convention by Kazakhstan as an independent state. The first site was confirmed in 2007 and the second separately in September 2011. Currently, the list of Ramsar sites in Kazakhstan has been increased to ten sites (

Table 6. Wetland and reed bed sites of Kazakhstan recorded into the Ramsar list (source [66]).

№	Name	Date of Record	Province	Area of the Ramsar Site (ha)	Protected Areas
1	Tengiz-Korgalzhyn Lake System	11 October 1976	Akmola Province	353,341	Korgalzhyn State Nature Reserve
2	Lakes of the lower Turgay and Irgiz	11 October 1976	Aktobe Province	348,000	Irgiz-Turgai Reserve, Turgai Nature Sanctuary of Republican Importance
3	Ural River Delta and the adjacent Caspian Sea coast	10 March 2009	Atyrau Province	111,500	“Akzhayik” Nature Reserve
4	Koibagar-Tyuntyugur Lake System	7 May 2009	Qostanai Province	58,000	-
5	Kulykol-Taldykol Lake System	7 May 2009	Qostanai Province	8300	-
6	Zharsor-Urkash Lake System	12 July 2009	Qostanai Province	41,250	Zharsor-Urkash Nature Sanctuary of Republican Importance
7	Naurzum Lake System	12 July 2009	Qostanai Province	139,714	Naurzum State Nature Reserve
8	Alakol-Sasykkol Lakes System	25 November 2009	Shared between Almaty and East Kazakhstan Provinces	914,663	Alakol State Nature Reserve
9	Ili River Delta and South Lake Balkhash	1 January 2012	Almaty Province	976,630	Balkhash, Karroy, and Kukan State Nature Sanctuaries of Republican Importance
10	Lesser Aral Sea and Delta of the Syrdarya River	2 February 2012	Kyzylorda Province	330,000	Barsakelmes State Nature Reserve

) that have been declared as wetlands of international importance, with a total area of 3,281,398 ha [66].

This increase in the number of sites declared as wetlands of international importance is likely to have a positive effect on reed beds in the vision of importance for the conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human well-being through the maintenance of their ecosystem components, processes, benefits, and services. Consequently, in the framework of wise use, reed beds as productive ecosystems, concentrated mainly in wetlands, can be of economic importance for sustainable rural livelihoods. Thus, prudent management of these ecosystems with elements of sustainable harvesting of reed biomass can contribute to the general conservation of reed areas and the care of wetlands as an additional source of income for the local population.

5. Past, Current, and Prospect Developments of Reed Resources and Their Utilization in Kazakhstan

5.1. Reed Resources Development and Utilization in the Past

Although reed has been known to man since prehistoric times as a raw material supporting livelihoods [13,19,20], information on the use of reed in the territory of modern Kazakhstan up to 1920 is limited. The earliest notes on reed beds, however, were made by A.I. Maksheev during the expedition of A.I. Butakov to explore the Aral Sea, the Amu Darya, and Syr Darya Rivers from 1848 to 1850 [67]. Dense stands of tall grass and reeds along with riparian forest, the so-called “Tugai Forests”, were identified as a unique habitat for tigers, which lived along floodplains of Central Asian rivers at that time [63,68,69]. Later, from 1850 to 1917, general information about the growth and use of reed in livelihoods were given in botanical works from the Tsarist time [70,71,72,73,74]. However, as these expeditions and research works covered a wide range of topics, there is limited information about the reed bed areas, their types, ecology, and productivity of reed in those sources.

Later, after Kazakhstan underwent significant socioeconomic and political developments that followed the establishment of the Soviet Union [75,76], reed became more and more interesting as a low-cost plant feedstock for paper and reed slabs. After a series of biochemical studies from 1930 to 1950 [55,77,78], in this regard, reed processing plants were established in the Kazakh and other Soviet Republics. As a result, reed biomass has been utilized for pulp and paper products, reed slabs, and fodder yeast in different parts of the Soviet Union. The compact distribution of reed in a particular territory was an indispensable condition to make use of plant feedstocks on a scale necessary, for example, for pulp and paper production. Therefore, an inventory of reed bed areas, and the determination of their distribution and stocks in various regions of the Soviet Union started in 1950 by different research institutes. A comprehensive study of reed beds distribution and its biomass stocks in the Kazakh SSR started in the late 1950s after a string of explorative surveys. Thus, it has been revealed that the Kazakh SSR harbored two-thirds of all reed bed areas of the Soviet Union [24,55]. Sufficiently rich in land and natural resources, the Kazakh SSR became a Republic with the most abundant reed biomass resources within the Soviet Union [79].

In the literature [24,54,55], the provinces accounted for 35–90% of the reed bed area with industrial significance. Owing to the above, reed bed areas in particular provinces were considered to be suitable for mechanized harvesting. This suggested that the area was highly appropriate for industrial utilization and its profitability was undoubtedly high. Although reed biomass had multiple uses, it has not been fully utilized in Kazakhstan for the last half-century. Its most recent harvesting and utilization on an industrial scale was reported at the pulp and paper mill in Kzyl-Orda Province, in the 1970s [55].

5.2. Current Development of Reed Resources and Their Utilization

Currently, only certain reed bed areas are partially developed for subsistence use in rural livelihoods, while its biomass harvesting for other commercial purposes, for example, fodder for livestock, construction material for building, and as raw material for pellets production, seldom exists [19,28,31,56,64,80,81]. Next to those applications of harvested reed biomass, reed beds are also used to treat wastewater and oil-contaminated soils from oil industries [82]. Owing to its current marginal utilization, common reed, even today, contributes to settlement development, livestock farming, recreation, and tourism in rural areas of Kazakhstan [28,64,81]. Although having this multipurpose utilization, today, the use of large reed bed areas, however, remains untapped, for example, the large reed bed areas in the Ili Delta are only partly used for grazing and haymaking. At the same time, harvest for other purposes is almost absent [28]. However, grazing of reed beds is connected with management practices, such as burning, which can hardly be considered to be sustainable, and haymaking during summer to stockpile winter fodder, as done in the Ili Delta [64]. These practices can be harmful to reed beds [37,83]. Continuous early and midsummer (April to July) mowing is considered to be a way to combat reed stands, as reported by [39,84,85].

5.3. Perspective for Reed Resources Development and Utilization

Next to the provision biomass as fodder for livestock, construction material, among other uses, common reed has been identified as an important renewable resource in the market due to its high biomass productivity [13,19,31,86]. Equally, its ability to grow in water and wet soils contributes a sustainable way to manage wetlands while, at the same time, providing ecosystem services [28,30,86]. Therefore, in recent years, research and development have explored several new biomass utilizations, for example, for advanced construction materials [87,88], biofuels [89], biogas [90], and most recently bioplastics [91]. Comparative studies, from an economic and ecological point of view, have indicated that material use is often preferable over energetic use of reed biomass [92,93].

So far, innovative reed applications seldom reach industrial scales. Incomplete or ineffective production processes, high harvesting and transportation costs, small underdeveloped markets, non-supportive institutional and political framework conditions, and a limited resource base are among the most critical constraints in Germany, Europe, and elsewhere. Reed stands in Germany, for instance, are small scale, dispersed, and often strictly protected. Thus, even in the well-developed market for thatching, only 15% of the annual demand can be satisfied with domestic sources [94].

In Kazakhstan, contrary vast reed resources are currently hardly used and only in parts under protection. For example, the Ili Delta at Lake Balkhash alone with a recently estimated 211,778 ha of reed beds and 869,097 t of biomass (in submerged reed beds) represents one of the largest contiguous reed stands worldwide [28]. This huge reed biomass potential is presently leaving ample opportunities to expand and improve their sustainable utilization without getting in competition with food and feed production or nature conservation and climate change mitigation goals.

6. Discussion and Conclusions

This paper reviewed biomass resources of common reed (Phragmites australis) in Kazakhstan with an emphasis on its historical developments, utilization, and prospects. Furthermore, the distribution of Phragmites wetlands was explored in Kazakhstan, as they are, by far, the most productive ecosystems there. Therefore, wetlands and reed beds are core areas from which a bioeconomy in such a dryland setting can obtain its feedstock. Although a detailed historical overview of reed resources has been performed, a current reed resources assessment for Kazakhstan is still not available. Therefore, a limitation of the present study is due to very little recent research on this topic and this remains a gap only partly filled by this paper.

Historical reed bed areas distribution in the 13 different provinces of Kazakhstan showed a wide variation ranging from 15,000 ha in Qaraghandy Province to 500,000 ha in Almaty Province (Table 3). This is linked to the presence and conditions of rivers and water bodies that form wetlands in these provinces, since reed beds are mainly concentrated along rivers and their deltas. For example, the Ili River flows through Almaty Province and its delta with one of the country’s largest wetlands is also located in this province [28,56,64]. The Ili River and its delta are still rather undisturbed as compared with the Syr Darya Delta, which has experienced degradation in the context of the desiccation of the Aral Sea [62,95]. Accordingly, the relative loss of high yielding reed beds was higher in the Syr Darya Delta in Kyzylorda Province as compared with the loss in the Ili Delta (Table 4). The provinces further north in Kazakhstan, such as Qaragandy, only have small rivers, and therefore smaller reed bed areas. However, in certain provinces, reed beds have been affected by decreasing water levels, and therefore fewer ha of reed beds have been reported.

Similarly, the reed biomass stocks ranged between 75,000 and 5,500,000 t in Qaraghandy and Almaty provinces, respectively (Table 3). Although up-to-date information regarding the distribution of reed beds is still scarce in certain districts, for example, in Atyrau and Mangystau Provinces, within other provinces, the distribution of reed beds and biomass stocks by districts also varied. Possible reasons could be severe conditions for surveying and monitoring the reed bed sites on the most dynamic sites of water bodies such as the coasts of the Caspian Sea, where the water level is gradually decreasing and a broad coastal strip is released.

Several driving forces were outlined for changes in wetlands and reed bed areas in Kazakhstan. Human activities such as grazing and mowing of reed beds, and management practices, such as burning, carried by the local population, have an impact on reed stands. In addition, the variation in the area under reed beds could also be explained by wetland ecosystems recession and their destruction resulting from activities with agricultural priorities such as the regulation of river runoff for irrigation and drain wetlands to turn them into cultivation and pasture lands or hayfields. Increasing water shortages, due to the expansion of agriculture against the background of rapid population growth and climate change, are considered as the main threats to reed beds in perspective. The later has been predicted to augment water scarcity, thus, negatively interfering, firstly, with the productivity of the reed lands, and then with their sustainability. Additionally, high population growth rate in Central Asia is also leading to an increase in water consumption, resulting in competition for water resources not only between countries but also inside countries between different water consumers such as irrigated agriculture and natural ecosystems.

Past, current, and future utilization of reed resources were inspected for prospect developments of reed resources and their utilization in Kazakhstan. Although reed resources are deemed important, their sustainable use in Kazakhstan is likely limited by the lack of supportive institutional and political framework conditions, and absence of infrastructure capacity for production in scale and small underdeveloped markets. With the recent rise in the number of sites declared as wetlands of international importance, in Kazakhstan, reed as a productive perennial grass that thrives in wetlands could be of economic importance. Its productivity is as high up to 30 t ha⁻¹ year^−1, and its sustainable use could contribute to the overall conservation of reed areas and wetlands. Its prospects in economic terms to the supply of biomass for bioenergy, as well as biobased products, in the future could be of significant importance to rural livelihoods.

The explored potential of reed biomass stock, in Kazakh provinces, is mainly based on studies that were published in the Russian language in the 1950s and 1960s. The results of this literature are presented here for the first time to an international audience. Although there are some variations in the literature concerning the estimates of total areas under reed beds and biomass stocks in individual provinces, the estimates still provide a summary of reed bed distribution at the provincial level from which further research can be conducted.

Overall, Kazakhstan is still likely to host a vast area under reed beds (20% of the total global) [53,54,96,97,98,99], as the large area of reed beds (over 211,000 ha) has been previously reported for the Ili Delta alone [25]. Furthermore, large reed bed areas of similar size in the country are the Syr Darya Delta and the Ural Delta, however, the Tenghiz Lakes are relatively small [28,53,54]. Therefore, Kazakhstan is a valuable example to explore the potential of reed beds for bioeconomy. Further research into reed bed utilization and its embedding in landscape planning should, first, concentrate on these deltas. However, as a basis, reed bed area and biomass data are needed, and this is the gap filled by this publication. However, in this review the presented consolidated data on reed bed areas with ramifying numbers in some provinces limit comprehensive statements. The information is mostly indicative, and therefore requires clarification. Therefore, the use of remote sensing and GIS (geographic information system) technologies along with ground truthing could enhance and renew the estimation of reed biomass in Kazakhstan in, as it was done for the delta of Ili River during 2014 and 2015 [28,100]. Similar to an updated country-wide assessment of reed resources using remote sensing methods is recommendable. Moreover, the potential benefits of reed for sustainable utilization still remain to be fully realized.

The biomass productivities of the reed beds listed, here, for Kazakhstan are in the same range as fast-growing tree plantations. New plantations of fast-growing trees would require using land that often could also be used as farmland for crops. The reed beds do exist, and therefore biomass harvest from those reed beds does not occupy cropland.