Trees Bring Welcome Sight of Green to Aralsk

by Liliya Dimeyeva and Valery Lysenko

Until the 1970s, the city of Aralsk was a prosperous port city on the northern end of the Aral Sea. Now, the sea has receded 100 kilometers from the city. The former sea bottom has become a source of salt, sand and dust. The southwesterly wind that once bought a cool sea breeze to Aralsk now brings intense heat and dust laced with toxic chemicals. The polluted environment and depressed economy have caused many to leave the city.

In 1995, we worked with a UN volunteer, Professor Tuker Altan, to design a project to rehabilitate the environment of Aralsk. The project, "A Green Protective Belt around Aralsk," proposed to combat desertification in the region by strategically planting approximately 200,000 trees and bushes around the city. We hoped that, were the project to receive funding, the green belt would improve conditions in the city by blocking high winds, decreasing evaporation from top soil, and lessening the amount of salt and dust blown into the city. The project, budgeted for $144,000, was submitted to the UN Development Project for funding through donor agencies. No donor has been found to date.

In 1996, we re-visited the idea, and won a $5,000 grant from ISAR for a scaled-down project, to be implemented jointly between Almaty botanists and Kokzhiek, an Aralsk-based NGO. While the funding was less, and the scope of the project more limited, community participation was a more prominent component of the new project. The main idea was to plant trees and bushes throughout the city with the participation of elementary and secondary schools, hospitals and clinics.

In April 1997, we arrived in Aralsk with 7,000 trees, bushes (karagach, ash, maple, lokh, willow, saxaul and tamarisk were the trees and bushes of choice) and some flowers especially bred for dry, salty climates. During the second and third weeks of April we worked with schools and hospitals to plant the bushes and trees. In the center of the city, across from the Aralsk region administrative office, we created a public park with the help of several elementary schools. These students have promised to take care of the park in the coming months. In general, the project was greeted with great enthusiasm by the residents of Aralsk. Considering the amount of community support that we received, it would not be too difficult to "green" all of Aralsk, if we had enough trees and, more importantly, water. We planted only as many trees and bushes as we thought we would be able to water this summer.

We hope this project will attract the attention of donors and others interested in solving the ecological problems of the region. In the future, we hope to expand our tree planting activities, and construct a "green wall" on the southwestern side of the city. The trees planted in this area will serve as both a "green shield" against noxious winds from the sea and a potential source of firewood. With the help of ISAR and other environmental funders and NGOs, we hope to develop a nursery in Aralsk that will provide trees for the project.

Liliya Dimeyeva and Valery Lysenko are botanists at the Kazakstan Institute of Botany in Almaty. Translated by Andrew Yim. Kazakstan Institute of Botany, PO Box 86, Almaty 480100, Kazakstan; phone: (3272) 61-78-15, fax: (3272) 61-79-38, e-mail: desert@rmmts.almaty.kz