Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 22 November 20121 an international conference was held in the capital of Uzbekistan on the theme "Let’s turn the Aral Sea region into a zone of environmental innovations and technologies." 

The conference was attended by representatives of government departments, international organizations. The conference was opened by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan - Minister of Tourism and Sports Aziz Abdukhakimov.

The event was attended and delivered a welcoming speech by the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Central Asia, head of the delegation of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia Natalya Gherman, Assistant Administrator of the UN Development Program, UNDP Regional Director for Europe and the CIS Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, Chairman of the Committee on Ecology and Environment Boriy Alikhanov, President of the Grand Paris Alliance for Sustainable Investments Nicolas Boucher, UNESCO Deputy Director General for Sciences Shamila Nair-Beduel, Minister of Innovative Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan Ibrokhim Abdurakhmonov.

“Today, the country is taking measures to implement a special resolution. On 29 July 2021, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan adopted a resolution on the implementation of a special UN resolution. On the basis of this document, seven directions of transformation of the Aral Sea region into a zone of environmental innovations and technologies have been identified. In addition, work is underway to create "green cover" in the regions and the Republic of Karakalpakstan. In 2021, as a result of these measures, on the created 560 hectares of green cover, 375 thousand hectares will be planted with trees. Tree planting is being organized on 172 thousand hectares of forest lands in Karakalpakstan, in the dry regions of the Aral Sea, in the Aral Sea regions of the Khorezm, Bukhara and Navoi regions and on 13 thousand hectares of mountain, valley and Tugai forest lands in other regions,” noted Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan - Minister of Tourism and Sports Aziz Abdukhakimov.

The consequences of the Aral Sea crisis negatively affect the lives of millions of people living in the Aral Sea region. In the next 55 years, a new desert called Aralkum appeared on the dry bottom of the Aral Sea on an area of 5.2 million hectares.

As in any other desert in the world, Aralkum lacks infrastructure and social conditions, socio-economic development of the region, biodiversity and ecosystem support necessary for the well-being of people. Therefore, on 18 May 2021, at the plenary meeting of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, at the suggestion of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, a Special Resolution was unanimously adopted on declaring the Aral Sea region a zone of environmental innovations and technologies.

According to the resolution, based on the principles of a green and circular economy, environmental innovations and technologies, strategic directions and priority projects have been identified to transform the Aral Sea region from a region associated with an environmental and humanitarian crisis into a sustainable socio-economically developed region.

The main discussions during the international conference "Transformation of the Aral Sea region into a zone of environmental innovations and technologies" will be based on world experience, the introduction of innovations and environmentally friendly technologies in the Aral Sea region, the introduction of energy and water saving technologies, the prevention of desertification and the development of ecotourism.

Currently, a number of events are being held in Uzbekistan on the basis of a special resolution of the UN General Assembly and initiatives of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. In particular, the Ministry of Innovative Development and the Aral Sea International Innovation Center have established close relations with the United Nations Development Program, the European Union, UNICEF, the Islamic Development Bank, and the ICBA International Center. Together with scientists from the United Arab Emirates, China, Tunisia, Switzerland and Canada, scientific cooperation has been established in the saline and dry lands of the Aral Sea region.

In Aral Sea region, research is being conducted on the cultivation of 18 plants brought from the ICBA International Center and representatives of the local wild flora. A site for scientific lysimetric research was built on the basis of more than 10 types of soils from the dried bottom of the Aral Sea. The agro-ecotourism project “My garden in the Aral Sea” has been developed; more than 5126 ornamental and desert-resistant trees have been planted on the exhibition grounds.

With the support of international organizations and foreign countries, a number of projects are being implemented at the Aral Sea International Innovation Center. In particular, in cooperation with UNICEF in Uzbekistan, the ImkonLab program supported young start-up projects in Moinak, Bozatovsk, Kungrad and Nukus districts of Karakalpakstan. The new innovative underground irrigation system is being implemented in partnership with the Tunisian company Chahbani Technologies. In cooperation with the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, experiments are being carried out to increase the yield of corn and cotton based on water-saving technologies (under these projects, 211,000 US dollars were raised).

Within the framework of the international conference, scientific and experimental work with Japan under the SATREPS program and a new joint competition with Germany under the CLIENT III program will be launched.

According to the results of the International Conference, in order to expand international cooperation in the Aral Sea region and the formation of the necessary infrastructure for innovative development, great importance will be paid to research and experimental work, the initiative of the UN General Assembly on declaring the Aral Sea region a zone of environmental innovations and technologies will be presented to the world community.