To Build or to Preserve: Why Trees in Tajikistan Are Increasingly Giving Way to Construction

In Tajikistan, the responsibility for illegal tree cutting has been increased. The maximum fine now reaches almost 94,000 somoni (over 10,000 $). However, while the state intends to fight illegal logging more strictly, tree cutting during construction still raises many questions. Is building a new house always a sufficient reason to cut down mature trees?
In recent years, in the capital and other major cities of Tajikistan, new residential buildings have increasingly appeared in place of long-standing plane trees, maples, and acacias. Along with the trees, the shade, coolness, and green appearance of the streets disappear.
Is it possible to develop cities without sacrificing trees? Who decides their fate and how?
Victims of New BuildingsThe cutting of mature plantings on one of the central streets of Khujand, where the construction of a residential building began, became another reason to discuss the problem of preserving urban trees.

Following this, lawyer and civil activist Dilrabo Samadova published an open appeal to the city authorities. She urged them to review construction projects where there is still an opportunity to preserve trees and to carefully assess the necessity of each cutting.

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