The Kazakh city of Almaty hosted these days the delegations of the countries of Central Asia and South Korea, who gathered in Kazakhstan to participate in the meeting of the Asian Forest Cooperation Organization. The initiator of the forum was the Korean Forest Service, which organized the conference within the framework of the Memorandum on Cooperation in the Forest Industry signed by the countries in October 2013, Korean information sources write.

The forum was attended by representatives of five Central Asian countries, including Turkmenistan, as well as international organizations. The delegates discussed issues of cooperation in the field of forestry and combating desertification. The speakers spoke about the work carried out in this area and the ongoing "green" projects in their countries.

Participants from Turkmenistan shared their experience of creating "green belts" around cities and other settlements of the country within the framework of the national landscaping program. 145 million trees have been planted around Ashgabat alone over the past 20 years, which is about 3 million seedlings a year. And during this period, the total area of artificial forests of coniferous, deciduous and fruit trees increased to 185 thousand hectares.

Experts of the Korean Forest Service spoke about the work done in Kazakhstan – the creation of the Druzhba forest in Astana, as well as other projects implemented in Central Asia: participation in the environmental program for the restoration of the Aral Sea, measures to combat desertification, tree planting in Tajikistan and others.

On the sidelines of the conference, Korean specialists also held a presentation of their future projects aimed at cooperation in the field of creation and conservation of forests in Asian countries. We are talking about the restoration of agar forests in Cambodia (2023-2025), the construction of tree nurseries in Mongolia. These seedlings will be used in the "One Billion Trees" project implemented in the Philippines to revive forests in geothermal zones.

The meeting also discussed strategies and plans for the development of partnership between the Central Asian countries in the field of forestry for the coming years and developed joint actions to address environmental issues.

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