Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- As part of the 21st meeting of the Committee to Review the Implementation of the UN Convention on Desertification (CRIC-21), Minister of Ecology Aziz Abdukhakimov held a bilateral meeting with the Chairman of the Chinese National Society for the Control of Sand and Desert Industry An Fengji.

At the meeting, issues of cooperation between the Ministry of Ecology and the Center in the field of research on land degradation and sustainable land management were discussed, including the exchange of experience and the implementation of joint research activities in regions of Uzbekistan with an increased risk of dust and sand storms (DSS).

The China National Society for Sand Control and Desert Industry is the only society for the prevention of desertification in China. The National Society was created in 1992. The honorary chairman is Xu Jialu, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. The decision to create a society arose after severe sand dust storms hit western China in 1950.

It is worth noting that the society is an academic, public and non-profit organization at the national level. Its members include experts, scientists, and entrepreneurs working in the field of combating desertification.

During the meeting, it was noted that, at the initiative of the Chairman of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, a Strategy to combat desertification and sandstorms was adopted, which includes subsidizing pastures for farmers and the private sector, a ban on private grazing of livestock and the creation of collective grazing of livestock (the creation of State Farms), as well as the restoration of forest and grass cover on previously plowed land plots and the destruction of DSS outbreaks.

In turn, Aziz Abdukhakimov informed the Chinese side about the increasing threats of DSS in the southern part of Uzbekistan and their intensity in other regions, and also provided detailed information about one of the control measures to combat DSS within the framework of the national initiative “Yashil Makon” and the progress of its implementation in republic. The minister also emphasized the need for society to rethink its relationship with the earth and nature in general.

As a result of the meeting, an agreement was reached on the speedy establishment of close cooperation between the Ministry of Ecology and the Society by developing and signing a Memorandum on scientific and practical cooperation in the field of combating desertification and land degradation.