Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Uzbekistan will extend the moratorium on cutting down valuable species of trees and shrubs that are not part of the state forest fund until 2024. This was announced today by the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

The head of Uzbekistan said that more than 316 thousand valuable tree species were preserved over the past six months during the moratorium. At the same time, 2,800 valuable and more than 2,000 low-value trees were illegally cut down.

It was reported that environmental police will appear in Uzbekistan, which will prevent violations in the field of ecology, including illegal logging, poaching, illegal waste disposal. The new structure will operate in the internal affairs system.

It is also planned to increase the amount of fines in the field of ecology by 5 times, and the amount of compensation for damage - by 2 times.