Authorities in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, said they would establish a system of protective forest belts to counter land degradation and prevent the deterioration of soil fertility.
This was announced by the country’s Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Yerlan Nyssanbayev, at a government meeting, according to Kazinform, a partner of TV BRICS.
“It is important to emphasise that the implementation of the task to plant 2 billion trees will not be limited to this number; the work will continue.
“To prevent land degradation and counter desertification, work is beginning on the creation of a system of protective forest belts and barrier plantations,” the minister announced.
He emphasised that these tasks are particularly important in the context of climate change and the growing anthropogenic pressure on ecosystems.
According to Nyssanbayev, natural resources must be used with the long-term interests of society in mind; therefore, the ministry has adopted the comprehensive biodiversity conservation and sustainable use concept for 2026–2035.
Other countries and partners within the BRICS group are also taking measures to conserve green spaces and improve soil quality.
In Russia, since 2022, as part of the implementation of the Zemlya (Land) state programme, 3.3 million hectares of unused land have been brought into agricultural use.
According to the website of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, by the end of 2025, the total area of land preserved through land improvement measures had reached 4.9 million hectares.
State support enables farmers to more actively implement projects aimed at improving land use efficiency, preserving soil fertility and protecting agricultural land from degradation.
Almost 50 per cent of costs are reimbursed for hydromelioration and hydraulic engineering works, and up to 90 per cent for phytomelioration and afforestation.
In Inner Mongolia in northern China, where several deserts are located, work is regularly carried out on afforestation and preventing desertification.
One of the measures against the encroachment of sand has been the laying of straw barriers.
In the city of Nusantara, currently under construction on the island of Kalimantan, to which the Indonesian authorities plan to relocate the national capital, efforts are being made to restore tropical forests.
The authorities have imposed a restriction on developers: 65 per cent of the city’s territory must be covered by forest.