Re-greening Uzbekistan's desertified Aral Sea region

In the 1960s the Aralkum desert didn't exist and the area was covered by the giant Aral Sea. At the time it was the fourth largest lake in the world, but now it is just a tenth of its former size.

In the Soviet era one of the worst environmental tragedies was perpetrated when the two rivers that fed into it, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, were diverted to irrigate fields - mostly growing cotton, a thirsty crop unsuitable for the region.

The sea irrigated a semi-desert region so that these crops could be grown but as it did, it steadily shrunk.

The climate has also changed: the summers are now hotter and the winters colder.

The Aral Sea still survives as three separate lakes, but it has lost an area of over 5.5 million hectares and what remains has been compared to Israel's Dead Sea, the saltiest body of inland water in the world.

The edge of the nearest part of the Aral Sea is now 150 kilometres away from Muynak, which once was a thriving port city  which stood on its shoreline.

In its heyday it supplied the Soviet Union with a sixth of all the fish it consumed, but now it is a shadow of its former self.

Uzbekistan has been working with international agencies to reverse the desertification that's long blighted the region.

A government programme with financial and technical aid from international agencies is planting shrubs and trees to combat the desertification and re-green parts of the region.

Over a million hectares have already been greened in Muynak district.

The most important plant is the black saxual shrub which is renowned for its hardiness and ability to withstand drought for long periods.

The shrub acts as a shield, stopping the salt and the sand from being whipped up into the air and carried by the wind to populated