Sustainable tree-planting helps to restored degraded land in Uzbekistan

From guardian.co.uk

By Komila Nabiyeva
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The project is funded by the German ministry of education and research (BMBF) and is being implemented jointly by the Centre for Development Research (ZEF) at Bonn University in Germany, Unesco and the Uzbek ministry of agriculture and water resources. It has been developing sustainable land and water use methods in part by planting trees on degraded, marginal cropland inside the irrigated farming areas.

The project findings could be of use not only for Khorezm, but for similar regions in the irrigated lowlands within Central Asia and the Caucasus drylands. According to local estimates, up to 20% of land in Khorezm is now unsuitable for cropping. Project photographs of a two-hectare research site in Yangibazar district from six years ago show a field apparently covered in snow.

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