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Ashgabat and a number of other regions of Turkmenistan, as well as neighboring countries are covered by a strange "dust fog".

Many residents of the Turkmen capital have decided that this is really a light fog, because of heavy rains in Ashgabat and a number of regions on the eve, the temperature dropped sharply in the evening. However, it soon became clear that this "fog" everywhere settles in the form of white pollen.

Old-timers recall strong dust storms, which, although not so often, visited the local regions, so you will not surprise anyone here, let alone frighten them. But the current pollen "invasion" in the form of fog, until now has not been seen.

Perhaps, this "dust fog" is, as experts from neighboring republics say, a consequence of a salt storm from the Aral Sea, which covered Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

It is not ruled out that this situation will last for several days. In such cases, doctors, as a rule, recommend to limit the stay in the open air, and and without special need not to leave the premises. It is considered not superfluous when going out to the street to use gauze respirators, which are available in almost all pharmacies.

Nevertheless, if this is an echo of a salt storm from the Aral Sea, then it shows how problematic is the ecological situation in the basin of the sea. If these consequences are so obvious in the relatively distant Turkmenistan, then what is felt by the inhabitants of the coastal regions of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan?

Turkmenistan in 2017-2019 presides over the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea, being an active supporter of the intensification of work to eliminate the consequences of this disaster for residents of the Aral zone.

At the national level, President Berdimuhamedov has initiated a wide range of measures to improve the social and environmental situation in the Aral Sea basin, including the Dashoguz province of Turkmenistan, which is the closest to the epicenter of the Aral Sea crisis. Significant financial resources are channeled to solve the problems of these territories, which are used to improve water supply, melioration and gardening, etc.

So in 2013, with the personal participation of Berdimuhamedov in the Dashoguz velayat, a large forest area of 55 hectares was planted, which since then has been growing every year in the course of mass plantings during the greening Sundays called yowars. According to experts, it is the creation of forest and forest park zones that is one of the most effective measures for improving the environment, as they contribute to air purification, climate mitigation and delay saline dust from the bottom of the dry sea.

Turkmenistan as chairman of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea prepares for August 2018 to hold a Summit of the heads of the founding states of this Fund. According to experts, this will be a particularly important event for solving urgent environmental problems in the Aral Sea area, since such a format has not been held for nine years.

Moreover, Turkmenistan is promoting the establishment of an international expert group, which, in close cooperation with the UN, could start preparing a special Aral Environmental Program. If successful, this can be a real breakthrough in the work to save the Aral Sea.