Volunteers planted 500 saxaul shrubs on the dried bed of the Aral Sea
One hundred people from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan put the shrubs in during the GREEN ARAL volunteer week.
Read the original
The reporting lives at BAQ.KZ. Our summary is checked against it, and we link it on every story.
One hundred volunteers from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan planted 500 saxaul shrubs on the dried bed of the Aral Sea. BAQ.KZ reported the work on October 22, 2026, during the GREEN ARAL: VOLUNTEERS FOR LIFE week. Ruslan Kayupov, head of the Kyzylorda regional public development department, attended.
Saxaul is planted on the old seabed because it can take hold in salty sand and help keep that sand from blowing. The dust that rises off the dry bed is one of the hardships left after the sea shrank. Five hundred shrubs are a single day's planting, not a forest, and they do not refill the Aral. They are roots in the ground where the water used to be.
For the classroom
Most of the Aral Sea, between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, has dried up, and the old seabed can blow salty dust. On October 22, 2026, about 100 volunteers planted 500 saxaul shrubs there. They came from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan during a week called GREEN ARAL. BAQ.KZ reported the planting. Saxaul is a tough shrub. Its roots can hold sandy soil and cut down the dust the wind picks up. Ruslan Kayupov, a regional official, was there. The shrubs do not put the water back. They are a small planting on a very large dry bed.
- How can a shrub change what the wind picks up from bare ground?
- Why would people from three countries plant in the same place?
- What is one small planting a class could look after near school?
For a teacher to read with a class. Print the story of the day · All classroom stories
More good news
Other stories in the same neighborhood of kindness.
CommunityHeideveld Primary opened a library named for a retired principal
The Cape Town school celebrated the Rosdien Desai Legacy Library on October 22, with classes set to split time between books and computers.
Verified · Athlone News
CommunityNeighbors spent two days opening up a choked woodland in Greenham
Volunteers cut rhododendron and cherry laurel from an eight-acre wood near Newbury so light can reach the ground again.
Verified · BBC
CommunityA Hope man invited the whole street to his Pumpkin Spectacular
Mike Castelli, 25, hand-delivered invitations to his Halloween display. Neighbors turned out, met for the first time, and donated to his Special Olympics team.
Verified · NBC 10 WJAR