CONFERENCES, SEMINARS AND PRACTICAL ACTIONS

Since 2010 in accordance with the decision of the UN General Assembly, an International Earth Day is celebrated around the world on April 22. Its goal is to draw the attention of the world community to the alarming trend of degradation of the world’s land resources due to their irrational use.

The issues of increasing the land use efficiency are also in front of Uzbekistan. Due to natural and climatic conditions, the territory of our country is substantially subject to droughts and, as a result, to the processes of desertification and land degradation which are exacerbated in connection with global warming and aridization of the region.

According to the expert estimates, by the year 2030 an average annual temperature values are expected to increase by 2-3 °C throughout the Central Asian region, especially in the zone of the Aral Sea.

In the last decade, an increase in the frequency of drought has been observed: it becomes more frequent in the summer and autumn seasons, especially in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya River. If in the 80’s and 90’s of the last century it was observed on average twice in ten years, then for the period 2000-2012 it was fixed four times. Droughts are causing a decline in food production, a decline in water quality and deterioration in living conditions.

In addition, a salinity and wind erosion have a significant impact on land degradation. The processes of degradation such as deforestation and erosion, waste pollution and shrinking pastures are intensifying that caused by the desiccation of the Aral Sea.

Environmentally unfavorable regions, first of all, the zone of the Aral Sea deserve particular attention in this context. The negative impact of the desiccation of the Aral Sea is now spreading far beyond this region.

To overcome the negative consequences of land degradation, large-scale measures are taken in the republic: a number of state programs were adopted to restore and better the quality of agricultural land, construction and reconstruction of irrigation systems, restoration of irrigated land infrastructure. Their realization over the past years allowed improving the reclamation condition of more than 1.5 million hectares of land in all regions of the country, to reduce the area of the land with a critical level of groundwater by almost 10%.

As a result of qualitative changes in the agrarian sector, including the advancement of modern agrotechnologies, a high yield of all major crops is gathered in the republic. For example, last year, more than 7.5 million tons of grain and more than 3.35 million tons of cotton were harvested. The goal is to gradually reduce the production and government purchases of raw cotton to 3 million tons by 2020. Due to this, about 170.5 thousand hectares of irrigated lands will be released for their more optimal use in agricultural production.

Public organizations of the country play a significant role in solving environmental problems. The activity of the Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan and its regional branches take a special place in this process.

In particular, in 2016 a number of events dedicated to the International Earth Day were conducted in Jizzakh, Ferghana, Samarkand, Navoi, Tashkent, Bukhara, Karakalpak, Namangan, and Tashkent city territorial branches.

This year on the eve of the celebration of Earth Day, the Eco-movement together with the National University of Uzbekistan, Samarkand Agricultural Institute and other partners organizes scientific-practical conferences and seminars, round tables, meetings, as well as practical actions. Particular attention will be paid to the use of land resources in ecologically unfavorable regions, in particular, the preparation of draft normative legal acts aimed at improving the environmental situation and living conditions of the population in the Aral Sea region.

S. Saidahmedov, S. Sanginov
(Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan)

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