Environment and Security

A very beautiful stone, with wavy red and white patterns, was found in the Bara Koh in ‘Umar Shaikh Mirza’s latter days. Knife handles, clasps for belts and many other things are made from it. For climate and for pleasantness, no township in all Farghana equals Osh.

Environment and Security 20 /

ENVSEC CASE STUDY Disappearance of walnut forests in the Jalal-Abad Province, Kyrgyzstan

One part of the Ferghana valley affected by deforestation is the province of Jalal-Abad, in south Kyrgyzstan, where the main walnut forests are located, covering 33,000 hectares. The walnut forests are remnants of Central Asia’s Tertiary era subtropical forests. They are located primarily on the north- ern slopes of the Ferghana and Chatkal ranges of the Tien Shan, and on the southern slopes of the Gissar and Darvaz ranges in Tajikistan. The forests are a remarkable combina- tion of walnut (Juglans regia), reaching 20 metres in height, and fruit trees such as wild apple (Malus) and prune (Prunus) (Krever and al. 1998). It is estimated that in Jalal-Abad Province there are already some 10,000 households in the wooded area and their number is increasing steadily. Many villages are overpopu- lated. In December 2004, an ENVSEC field assessment mission visited the Arstanbob community the population of which has increased three-fold over the last 10 years. Small collective farms such as Achi have to sustain numbers of households exceeding available natural resources. (Achi forestry is home to 12,300 people in 2,500 households. Out of 14,500 hectare total area, 800 hectares are under walnut forests.) Increasing population pressure combined with the lack of access to alternative sources of energy drive villagers to overexploit the walnut forests’ wood stocks. Long cold winters force people to cut down trees for fuel. Poverty is another important force driving deforestation, with people cutting down trees and collecting plant produce for sale. Finally unsustainable agricultural practices cause severe damage to walnut forests. Grazing animals trample down young trees (Achi population owns over 30,000 heads of cattle), and farmers clear forest to plant crops.

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Deforestation in turn contributes to greater vulner- ability to natural hazards such as erosion, mudflows and landslides.

Source: ENVSEC field visits - Natural Resources Track

Isfara has running waters, beautiful little gardens and many fruit-trees although for the most part, its orchards produce almonds. Its people are all Persian-speaking Sarts. In the hills some two miles to the south of the town, is a piece of rock, known as the Mirror Stone. It is some 10 arm-lengths long, as high as aman in parts, up to his waist in others. Everything is reflected by it as by a mirror.

To the west of Andjian is Marghilan, a fine town- ship full of good things. Its apricots and pomegran- ates are most excellent. One sort of pomegran- ate, they call the Great Seed; its sweetness has a little of the pleasant flavour of an overripe apricot and it may be thought better than the Semnan pomegranate. They dry another kind of apricot and after stoning, stuff it with almonds. They call it subhani, and it is very palatable. The hunting and fowling of Marghilan are good: white deer are had close by.

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