Uzbekistan to create 1 mln hectares of green cover in dried Aral Sea bed

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TASHKENT, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Uzbekistan plans to create one million hectares of green cover to stabilize toxic sand in the dried Aral Sea basin that has been polluting the Central Asian region, the country's State Committee of Forestry said Friday.

Uzbekistan has already created 1.6 million hectares of green cover in the dried seabed, mainly by planting saksovul (Haloxylon) desert trees since 2018, it said.

The Aral Sea, once the world's fourth largest saltwater lake lying between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, has been dramatically shrinking since the 1960s due to climate change and increasing human activities.

The dried up seabed has become a source of tens of thousands of tons of toxic salt-dust annually reaching far beyond the Central Asian region, according to environmental experts.

Uzbek and international experts believe that creating green covers in a desert will help stabilize sand dunes, stop dust and sand from rising into the air and eventually form a desert forest ecosystem. Enditem

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