At a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on April 22, Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov reported to President Serdar Berdimuhamedov that, as a result of greening campaigns, Ashgabat was awarded a certificate for its contribution to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) initiative “Trees in Cities”. This was reported by the state news agency TDH .

Berdimuhamedov noted that together with the UN, Turkmenistan has been implementing projects aimed at achieving sustainable development on the planet for many years, in particular, it is working to turn urban and rural areas into forest zones. .

“On the initiative of the Hero-Arkadag , more than 145 million tree seedlings have been planted in the country for many years , which led to the formation of special climatic zones. It also contributes to maintaining a high level of air purity in the region and preserving nature,” the President said.

Campaigns to plant tens of millions of trees are held annually in Turkmenistan. For example, as the authorities stated, in 2021 alone, it was planned to plant 30 million seedlings, a year earlier - 25 million. Before that, 3 million were planted every year. However, in general, only coniferous trees are planted and not in the courtyards of houses, but around Ashgabat. At the same time, the authorities are cutting down thousands of perennial trees in the capital.

In June 2021, more than 115 million trees were planted in total under the National Forest Program in Turkmenistan.

This year it is planned to plant 3 million seedlings. As of April 4, 1,658,915 trees have been planted.

Employees of budgetary and state institutions, as well as students are involved in such landscaping campaigns on a voluntary-compulsory basis. Often they are forced to pay for the purchase of seedlings and the necessary form for the event out of their own pocket.

Source: Chronicles of Turkmenistan