On March 29th, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev chaired a government meeting on the expansion of green areas across the country. Aimed at improving the environment, Uzbekistan has initiated a mass tree planting campaign. In addition to 125 million saplings being planted this spring, work has begun on the creation of parks and planting trees in rows of ten along roads.
To date, the Ministry of Defense has planted on 100 hectares, and the Ministry of Digital Technologies as well as the Ministry of Mining and Geology have each given over 65 hectares to parkland.
The Ministry of Ecology, Environment and Climate Change has been tasked to establish 444 gardens and 160 public parks.
To expand green areas in Tashkent, the city planning council has specified that all new construction projects allocate at least 30 percent of their territories for trees. Now in force, the campaign will ensure that green areas are integrated into projects involving the construction of 2.5 thousand multi-storey buildings in the capital. In addition, trees are to be planted on at least one hectare of land in each of the 38 New Uzbekistan residential compounds.
Barren land along roads and railways, rivers and canals, and around industrial enterprises and gas stations offers further potential for a greener Uzbekistan.
