President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree on May 11 creating the Committee on Forestry to replace the Office of Forestry under the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of Uzbekistan.
As the official commentary to the decree noted, Uzbekistan’s forests had so far been managed by several government bodies, which prevented carrying out of a common policy in this field.
The document also pointed to the outdated and physically worn out material and equipment of the industry, the lack of skilled specialists, existence of norms in forestry legislation that have no practicality and no mechanisms of realization, which in fact has hampered the development of the industry.
The Ugam-Chatkal national park and its Chatkal biosphere reserve, Akhangaran and Burchmullin forestries have been transferred from the Tashkent province governor’s office to the new committee.
A Scientific Research Institute of Forestry will be created within the Committee to replace the Republican Scientific and Production Center for Decorative Horticulture and Forestry.
The national education standards for secondary specialized, professional and higher education will be revised.
Specialized vocational colleges will be attached to forestry entities to ensure a close link between the educational process and practice.
In 2000 the previous Committee on forestry had been replaced by the Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources.
The forests account for 25.2% of all land in Uzbekistan.
