Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – On 17 June, Committees of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis on ecology and environmental protection, on agrarian and water management issues, together with a fraction of the Ecological Party of Uzbekistan and the State Committee on Forestry, organized a video conference dedicated to the World Day of Desertification and Drought.

The event was attended by deputies of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis, the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the State Committee for Forestry, the Ecological Party of Uzbekistan and the media.

World Day of Desertification and Drought was declared by the United Nations in 1994 and has since been widely celebrated around the world. The problem of drought and desertification causes social and economic damage to all of humanity and creates a global environmental threat, therefore it is in the focus of attention of the entire international community, landowners, academia and political scientists. Uzbekistan was one of the first countries in the Asian region to become a party to the UN Convention, which was ratified by the Parliament of Uzbekistan on 31 August 1995 and entered into force in 1996. Members of the Convention are 196 countries.

Today, 70 percent or 31.4 million hectares of land in Uzbekistan are subject to drought. These are mainly saline natural areas, mobile sandy loam and sandy deserts, as well as areas dried by strong winds.

Due to the drying up of the Aral Sea, a new desert called “Aralkum” appeared, the area of which is over 3 million hectares. As a result, the ecological environment in the region has worsened, desertification processes have intensified and social problems have arisen.

Participants discussed the status of the implementation of measures adopted by Uzbekistan in accordance with the obligations of the Convention, the State Forestry Committee has been appointed responsible for their implementation.

It was noted that in accordance with international law, further improvement of the environmental protection system, in particular the protection and rational use of land resources, is recognized as a priority task of the state. The country has created a legislative framework in this area. So, in order to increase the effectiveness of combating desertification and drought, the President of the country adopted the Resolution "On measures to improve the effectiveness of combating desertification and drought in the Republic of Uzbekistan."

The State Forestry Committee has developed a roadmap for 2019–2023. On its basis, field work is carried out in the field. So, on the dried bottom of the Aral Sea in the autumn-winter period in 2018-2019. planted on 501 thousand ha, in 2019-2020 - 703 thousand ha of seedlings and seeds of saxaul and other salt tolerant plants to strengthen mobile sand.

In order to protect irrigated lands and infrastructure in the adjacent areas of the Kyzylkum desert in the Bukhara region, work began on forest planting of saxauls on more than 200,000 hectares to create a "green shield" around the city of Bukhara. In addition, pistachio plantations will be planted on 10,000 hectares of land in the foothills of Nurata in Navoi region.

In addition, to improve the reclamation of irrigated agricultural lands, in addition to forest fund lands, the state program includes the creation of forest stands to protect water bodies from sand penetration.

As part of this program, in 2019 trees were planted on 2495 hectares, and in 2020 - on about 2000 hectares. The relevant Decree of the head of state included in the state program the creation in 2020–2024 of protective forest plantations on 12,000 ha of irrigated agricultural land on a contractual basis. In order to more effectively organize the fight against desertification and drought, negotiations are underway to create an international platform for discussing pressing issues of desertification and land degradation.

The event also discussed the shortcomings and problems in the industry, such as the lack of public-private partnerships and economic incentives in the fight against desertification and land degradation. It is proposed to widely introduce innovative projects into production, to involve the local population in the fight against desertification and drought, and to take measures to increase public awareness of the activities of state and public organizations in this area.

Following the discussion, a joint decision was made by the committees of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis and the State Committee on Forestry.