The botanical garden is transferred to the administration of Tashkent

The government's decision, "On the fundamental improvement of the activity and management system of recreation parks," has been placed in the unified electronic system for the development and approval of draft regulatory legal documents. With this official document, the transfer of the Tashkent Botanical Garden from the Academy of Sciences to the capital's administration has been established.

This, in turn, has sparked public and Ecoparty protests. In particular, Rasul Kusherbayev reacted to this government decision on his Telegram channel.

"Unfortunately, in the past, many former governors of Tashkent have visited the Botanical Garden. If the park is handed over to the authorities, it will no longer be a natural world object under the care of scientists but rather a business entity. The arboretum's place will become a construction site, as the mayor and his team lack the capacity to do more. Their primary goal is to make money. However, I hope that the public will not stand idly by," he wrote.

The Ecological Party of Uzbekistan also expressed its concern over this situation, stating that the draft decision mentioned above envisions renting out areas of recreational parks for the provision of trade and paid services, as well as installing attractions. This activity will be carried out by Tashkent Botany, which was originally established as a scientific institution. It was reported that this move will have a serious negative impact on the unique flora specimens brought from five continents of the world and housed in the park.

For your information, the Tashkent Botanical Garden, named after Academic F.N. Rusanov, under the Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, was established in 1950. Today, the park is a unique and significant scientific asset, the largest and the only one in Central Asia in terms of the gene pool of plant species, the diversity of their numbers, and the collection of gene pool species.

Over the past 2-3 years, the botanical garden has enriched its collection with more than 200 new ornamental species. At present, the park houses more than 2,450 flowering trees and shrubs, as well as medicinal plants.

Currently, a parliamentary request has been sent to the Government on behalf of the Ecological Party of Uzbekistan faction in the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis.