OSCE Centre helps plant trees in Tajikistan's rural areas to prevent land degradation

NOSIRI KHISRAV, 14 March 2008 - In an effort to help reduce land erosion in Tajikistan, the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe is supporting a week-long project starting today that will see 25,000 trees planted in rural parts of the country.

"Though many, the trees are not enough to save all of the country from land erosion," said Bess Brown, Economic Officer at the OSCE Centre. "Tajikistan needs millions of trees to be planted in order to save the little arable lands it has."

The plantings, carried out by about 10,000 participants, are part of a year-long project in which the Centre is co-operating with the local councils, or Khukumats. The heads of the Khukumats in the Shaartuz and Nosiri Khisrav, two districts in southern Tajikistan, were also present at the tree-planting week opening ceremony.

Khakimjon Karimov, the head of the Khukumat in Nosiri Khisrav, added: "These days, especially when the severe winter has destroyed so many trees in Tajikistan, every newly planted tree should count."

Every year, Tajikistan loses 50,000 hectares of productive land because of erosion, posing a serious threat to the economy of the country and making it more vulnerable to natural disasters.