Kazakhstan to increase area of saxaul planting on dried up Aral Sea bottom to 900,000 hectares in 2025Kazakhstan plans to plant saxaul on the dried-up bottom of the Aral Sea on an area of 428,000 hectares this year, Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic Nurken Sharbiyev said."On planting saxaul on the dried-up bottom of the Aral Sea. From 2021 to 2024, it will be planted on an area of 475,000 hectares. This year's plan is 428,000 hectares," Sharbiyev said at a briefing in Astana on Friday.In order to provide the work with high-quality planting material, a forest nursery was put into operation last year in the city of Kazalinsk on an area of 33 hectares, with a capacity of 3 million seedlings per year."This year, work has begun on the creation of a new forest nursery directly on the dried-up bottom of the Aral Sea on an area of 15 hectares, with the drilling of two wells that will allow us to obtain adapted planting material," he said. A branch of the Kazakh Forestry Research Institute is being set up in Kyzylorda to provide scientific support for the work, the deputy minister added."Scientists will test new technologies for planting, including the use of drones," Sharbiyev said.It was previously reported that Kazakhstan has developed a comprehensive program to plant saxaul over an area of 1.1 million hectares on the dry bottom of the Aral Sea in 2021-2030.Saxaul is a woody plant that grows in deserts. Its strong root system protects the sandy soil from the wind, preventing wind erosion and allowing the desert to maintain its natural ecosystem. The dried bottom of the Aral Sea covers 4.5 million hectares, of which 2.2 million are in Kazakhstan and 2.3 million in Uzbekistan. Up to 100 million tonnes of salt and dust are removed from the sea floor each year and spread over thousands of kilometers. (ICE ALMATY)

Fonte notizia: INTERFAX