Regrowing a Forest on the Dried Aral Seabed

The Aralkum, a toxic salt-and-dust desert that emerged as the Aral Sea shrank by more than 90%, sends dust storms across Central Asia and coats farmland in salt and pesticide residue. Since 2018, Uzbekistan's Forestry Agency, working with UNDP's 'Green Aral Sea' initiative, has organized mass plantings of saxaul, saltwort, and other salt-tolerant shrubs across the dried seabed in Karakalpakstan. A single mature saxaul can trap up to four tons of drifting sand and salt, and seven-year-old stands cut ground-level wind speed almost to zero. Local residents and Forestry Agency staff hand-sow and mechanically plant seed by the ton each season to keep expanding the green belt.