ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, January 7. Entrepreneurs in Turkmenistan will be able to lease plots of the forest fund for the cultivation of fruit, oil-bearing, and medicinal crops while land ownership remains with the state, Trend reports via the press service of the country’s government.
The provision is included in the draft National Forest Program of Turkmenistan for 2026-2030, which was discussed during a roundtable held in Ashgabat by the Ministry of Environmental Protection in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Aral Project.
The draft document is intended to become the third stage of the country’s forest development policy and biodiversity conservation efforts.
The program consists of 13 chapters and contains a detailed action plan. Compared with previous documents, it places greater emphasis on the restoration of natural forests and for the first time provides for the introduction of a state forest inventory as a basis for forming a national forest cadastre.
The draft includes measures to address desertification and climate adaptation, provides for the use of digital technologies for forest monitoring, and outlines the potential for generating carbon credits under the Paris Agreement.
Earlier, specialists from Turkmenistan’s National Institute of Deserts, Flora and Fauna, and the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences intensified scientific exchanges within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. The cooperation focuses on studying China’s experience in protecting transport infrastructure in extreme desert conditions, including the use of artificial forest belts along highways in the Taklamakan Desert. The exchange is aimed at applying relevant practices to desert management and land restoration efforts in Turkmenistan.
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