The “Youth for a Clean Bulak-Su” event has been held each year since 1982. The event is organized by the “Eremurus” ecological club and is supported by the US Embassy in Tashkent and the Youth Ecological Net of Uzbekistan. It was held April 24-25 to coincide with the international Earth Day celebrations, which marks the beginning of the modern environmental movement in the US 40 years ago.

The activists cleaned up about 10 hectares along the Bulak-Su River, a mountain stream that flows through the Khojikent Valley. The area is a popular tourist destination. They also installed trash bins and hung signs encouraging people to protect the natural environment.

The group – which included participants from Tashkent, Angren, Chirchik, Samarkand, Nukus, Namangan, Andijan, Ferghana and Margilan – held discussions about pressing environmental topics and met with specialists from the United Nations’ Development Programme. They spoke about environmental issues in Uzbekistan such as protection of the Bukhara deer, the shrinking of the Aral Sea, urbanization, desertification and diminution of the Tugay forests in Karakalpakstan.

Participants in the Youth for a Clean Bulak-Su event said they were pleased to see that Earth Day events attract more participants in Uzbekistan each year. The US Embassy also sponsored a tree-planting event in the Seattle Peace Park in Tashkent in recognition of Earth Day this year.

Cleaning up garbage from the Bulak-Su area highlights how individuals can make important contributions to maintaining a clean and healthy environment, participants said, adding that they hoped people would continue to make small changes in their daily lives to help protect the environment.