Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has unveiled a series of ambitious proposals aimed at strengthening environmental cooperation across Central Asia, including the creation of a unified Red List of Central Asia to protect the region’s biodiversity.

Speaking at a regional forum, the Uzbek leader suggested that the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s regional office in Tashkent could coordinate the initiative, The Caspian Post reports via Kazakh media.

The proposed Red List would go beyond listing endangered species, serving as a practical platform for joint conservation efforts among countries.

Mirziyoyev also called for expanding the role of Uzbekistan’s Center for Combating Desertification, Drought Prevention, and Early Warning of Sand and Dust Storms, based at the Central Asian Green University. Granting it regional status, he said, would help consolidate scientific expertise and improve land degradation monitoring across the region.

To accelerate sustainable economic transformation, the Uzbek president proposed launching a Central Asian “Green Trade Corridor”, which would introduce preferential customs regimes and mutual recognition of product standards to boost competitiveness and modernize industries.

Among other initiatives, Mirziyoyev suggested creating a regional investment portfolio for climate projects and developing a unified environmental atlas to track ecological changes across Central Asia in a standardized format.