BEIJING, August 16. /”Dunyo” AA/. Zhang Yuanming, Director of the Shinzhong Ecology and Geography Institute, said: – We have long been cooperating with the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, the national university, as well as with other institutions, including International Innovation Center Aral sea basin in Nukus. During our cooperation, we managed to implement a number of projects, in particular, on combating desertification, salinization, as well as on oasis agriculture and cotton planting. We also created a halophyte garden in Muynak, which we used to restore the ecology and combat salinity in the southern part of the Aral Sea region. Also, under our leadership, demonstration plots for planting cotton were created in Nukus with high annual production. I think that cooperation with Uzbekistan is successful. This is evidenced by the laboratories created jointly with the National University, as well as with the innovation center in Nukus. We also have joint projects with the Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. I would like to note that scientists in Uzbekistan have extensive experience in preserving biodiversity, ecological restoration, and also in some studies of dust storms. I believe that the fruitfulness of our joint projects will be simply enormous, and will also have some ecological impact on the local environment and people’s lives. From now on, this is a truly international platform for the Aral Sea region. I mean not only Chinese scientists, but scientists from all over the world. They focused on environmental issues, on restoration work and have achieved great success. There are many issues and problems ahead that need to be solved by joint efforts. Therefore, we hope that we can join forces to conduct joint research aimed at restoring the ecology and preserving biodiversity in these areas. I think this is a very good initiative to find and create alternative energy sources, “green” technologies, “green” development in the Aral Sea region, which can become a good example for international scientific communities.
Soon, at the end of August, Chinese scientists, specialists from Uzbekistan, together with scientists from Kazakhstan and Russia, will conduct a field expedition on the environment and ecology in the Aral Sea region. Thus, these international field working groups will mainly focus on soil properties, water regime, vegetation, biodiversity, as well as some types of landscape studies in the field. Thanks to such field work, we will receive real data, an analysis of the current situation in the Aral Sea region, which will be a significant step towards restoring the territory.