Land and pasture degradation, erosion, sand and dust storms, loss of forests, soil salinity are not only natural and climatic factors, but also economic activities - incorrect implementation of agrotechnical activities, livestock it is also happening as a result of over-grazing of livestock, not rational use of natural resources.

A meeting of the Coordinating Committee of the new project "Sustainable management of pastures and forests in the drought-affected ecosystems of Uzbekistan" launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) was organized. Abduvahid Zakhadullayev, an employee of the Forestry Agency, also participated in the meeting.

It is known that this project, financed by the Global Environmental Fund (GEF), introduces best practices in the sustainable management of land and forest resources and landscape restoration in Uzbekistan in order to fulfill the country's obligations regarding the neutral balance of land degradation. . The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Forestry Agency under the Ministry of Natural Resources are national partners of the project.

It was noted at the event that the implementation of this project is based on the decree of the head of our state dated February 22, 2019 "On measures to increase the effectiveness of work to combat desertification and drought in the Republic of Uzbekistan" and dated June 10, 2022 Contributes to the implementation of Decisions "On measures to create an effective system of combating land degradation".

At the same time, the project supports the development of the Roadmap for 2024-2028 to combat desertification and drought in the republic.

This FAO project introduces innovative methods of land and forest resource management to increase productivity and restore degraded land. This allows maintaining a neutral balance of land degradation. According to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, it is "the extent and quantity of land resources required to maintain ecosystem functions and services and increase food security remains stable or over a well-defined temporal and spatial scale. and the state of reproduction in ecosystems".

According to information, the territory of Uzbekistan that requires measures to combat desertification exceeds 20 million hectares. Today, land degradation is observed throughout the country. Districts of Bukhara and Navoi regions and the lowlands of the Amudarya and Syrdarya river basins are the areas most affected by these processes.

This project will be implemented within 5 years. For the implementation of the project, the landscapes of Jondor and Navoi regions of Bukhara region were selected as the project area, in order to introduce comprehensive land use plans in these regions, to increase the capacity, knowledge and skills of farmers, and to improve the land use monitoring system. measures are taken.

During the meeting, the goals and objectives of the project were presented, the semi-annual report of the project on the completed works was approved, the work plan and budget for 2023 were reviewed and approved, and the strategy of project implementation and next stages were discussed.