Published on: 2026-06-05
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Almaty/Urumqi, June 5 /Xin Hua/ — On the so-called “ship graveyard” of the Aral Sea in the Uzbek town of Muynak, you can see rusty hulls of ships, covered with cracks and stuck in the high bottom of the former reservoir. Once a bustling fishing port on the shore of the Aral Sea has disappeared along with the receded water, leaving behind only these fishing vessels, silently standing amidst the desert landscape. Looking at the vast endless plain stretched around, it is hard to imagine that once upon a time water spaces extended here and ships sailed under sails on the waves.
“This is an ecological disaster that has caused colossal damage to the region,” said Mazhmudjan Aitjanov, a guide at the Museum of the History of the Aral Sea, to the correspondents.
The Aral Sea, located deep within the Eurasian continent and divided between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, was previously the fourth largest lake in the world. However, since the 1960s, under the influence of a sharp increase in water consumption in agricultural activities and climatic changes, its area has shrunk by more than 90%. As the shoreline changed, soil salinization increased, and a desert with an area of over 50,000 square kilometers formed on the seabed. The Aral Sea has become a symbol of the ecological tragedy of the region, earning the name “the Tears of Central Asia.”
In response to the country’s longstanding ecological crisis around the Aral Sea, comprehensive measures are being undertaken to mitigate the consequences of the disaster. At the same time, Chinese experts in the field of ecology and local scientific institutions continue joint research and pilot projects, contributing to the search for solutions to this crisis.
In 2013, the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with partners from Central Asian countries, established the Scientific Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia. Its main office is located in Tashkent, with branches operating in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. On this platform, Chinese and foreign specialists conduct joint research in the field of water resource issues in arid regions, combating desertification, restoring saline lands, and ecological rehabilitation.
Within the framework of studying the ecological problems of the Aral Sea, a Chinese scientific group in the framework of comprehensive research throughout the basin deployed more than 80 monitoring points, capturing parameters such as ecology, surface and groundwater, as well as saline dust storms. In combination with technologies of high-resolution remote sensing, a systematic analysis of the processes of degradation of the Aral Sea and its causes was conducted.Based on data on soil, vegetation, biodiversity, and water resources, the Aral Sea region was divided into seven ecosystem types and 14 subregions, which became the scientific basis for differentiated restoration measures.
The director of the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Zhang Yuanmin, reported that in applied fields, the Chinese side is implementing the experience of combating land salinization in the arid areas of the Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China into the practice of ecological rehabilitation of the Aral Sea, assisting in the creation of botanical gardens and conducting the selection of salt-tolerant plants and testing their adaptability.
According to Chinese experts, such plants, resistant to highly saline and alkaline conditions, are capable of absorbing salts from the soil through their root system, thereby reducing its salinity and improving its properties. Currently, China and Uzbekistan have jointly created five gardens with such plants, and it is planned to increase the number to seven in the future.
The Director of the Forestry Agency under the National Committee on Ecology and Climate Change of Uzbekistan, Erkin Muitdinov, stated that the Uzbek side plans to turn these gardens into “mother bases,” and then expand the scale of planting drought-resistant plants, such as saxaul and tamarisk, gradually restoring the agricultural potential of saline lands.
The International Innovation Center of Priaralie at the aforementioned ministry permanently collaborates with a number of countries, including China, and actively participates in a project to restore vegetation cover on the seabed of the Aral Sea. The center’s director, Basytzhan Khabibullaev, reported that the institution systematically studies Chinese technologies for growing salt-tolerant plants, and has also introduced more than 40 types of salt-tolerant plants capable of improving degraded soils, researching their adaptation to regional conditions and possible directions for further application.
During his visit to China, B. Khabibullaev learned that salt-tolerant plants possess not only ecological but also economic value. For example, cistanche has medicinal properties and is widespread in Central Asia, but its potential is still insufficiently studied and weakly utilized. “The Chinese side has already accumulated systematic experience in research and practical application, which is of great interest to us,” he said.
E. Muitdinov noted that the Chinese experience has important practical significance. Since 2018, the area of afforestation using salt-tolerant plants in Uzbekistan has reached about 2 million hectares. As the vegetation cover expands, there is a certain improvement in the ecological situation in the region, and the intensity of dust and salt storms, which previously regularly affected both local territories and other areas of Central Asia, has noticeably decreased.
In the opinion of M. Aitjanov, these changes are clearly visible. “About 10 years ago, especially in spring, we often had dust and salt storms here, at the most difficult moments it was even impossible to open your eyes,” he said, adding that the situation has now improved. According to him, international cooperation, including ecological interaction between Uzbekistan and China, is very important for the local population.
Chinese and foreign experts note that in the long-term perspective, a key factor in solving the problem of the Aral Sea is the preservation and rational use of water resources in the basin. In this regard, water-saving agriculture technologies have become a priority direction promoted by the Chinese side. Since 2011, the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, together with scientific institutions of Central Asian countries, has been conducting research on the effective use of water resources in agriculture of arid regions on a permanent basis and promoting water-saving irrigation technologies.
As experts reported, in experimental plots with the use of water-saving irrigation in Uzbekistan, the government of the country for three consecutive years conducted field measurements at a demonstration site with the participation of the Chinese side. According to the results of the tests, it was established that the yield consistently exceeded 400 kg per mu / 1 hectare = 15 mu/, the level of water savings reached 50-70%, and the indicators of yield and efficiency of resource use significantly surpassed the local traditional level.
Deputy Director of the Scientific Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia, Dzhalil Abduvayli, believes that the Aral Sea crisis is not only a problem of Central Asia, but also affects a wider region.In this regard, the participation of the Chinese side in cooperation on environmental management in Central Asia is aimed, on the one hand, at creating a joint scientific research platform and promoting regional environmental safety and coordinated management; on the other hand, at studying ways to combine environmental protection and economic development through the transfer of technologies, exchange of experience, and joint research, contributing to the sustainable development of the region.
The Vice-Rector of the Central Asian University for Environmental Studies and Climate Change /Green University/ Sharier Nurulloev stated that the Uzbek side highly values the prospects of cooperation with China in the field of environmental management. According to him, in the future Uzbekistan intends to consistently promote, together with the Chinese side, ecological rehabilitation and improvement of land conditions in the area around the Aral Sea, thereby contributing to the improvement of living conditions for the population, the return of residents to the region, and sustainable socio-economic development of the territory.
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