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Uzbekistan is a country in Central Asia, located north of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. With an area of approximately 448,900 square kilometers, Uzbekistan stretches from west to east and from north to south. It borders Turkmenistan to the southwest, Kazakhstan to the north and Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to the south and east. A shallow lake, Sarygamysh Lake, sits on the border with Turkmenistan.

Another important feature of Uzbekistan's physical environment is the significant seismic activity that dominates much of the country. but may fall as low as .

|source 2 = Pogoda.ru.net (mean temperatures/humidity/snow days 1981–2010, record low and record high temperatures), NOAA (mean monthly sunshine hours, 1961–1990) OGIMET

|date=March 2014

Environmental problems

thumb|Uzbekistan, February 2003. Red dots indicate wildfires.

thumb|Uzbekistan is the seventh most [[Water stressed country in the world.]]

Despite Uzbekistan's rich and varied natural environment, decades of environmental neglect in the Soviet Union have combined with skewed economic policies in the Soviet south to make Uzbekistan one of the gravest of the CIS's many environmental crises. The irrigation of farmlands with water from the Aral Sea has resulted in increased salinization of the soil, causing the farmland to be less productive and the destruction of a large portion of farmable land.

The amount of grasslands in Uzbekistan has gradually decreased mainly due to over-grazing and climate change. About 62.6% of the land in Uzbekistan is used for agriculture with 51.7% of that land used for permanent pasture.

The soil has been polluted by mining and smelting activities due to the spread of metals and other pollutants by wind. Smelter ash contaminated soil causes environmental risks such as reduction of soil respiration, contamination of microbial biomass, and negatively effecting trophic interactions. Many species of animals are sensitive to metal pollution and are directly exposed to it by living off of the land that has been polluted by the mining and smelting activities. The metals polluting the land and soil include copper, gold, lead, silver, metallic zinc, and others. An example is the metallurgical complex at Almalik in Uzbekistan that manufactures metals and has waste storage sites in surrounding areas, which pollute the soil, groundwater, and air with high amounts of copper, zinc, arsenic, lead, and cadmium. The mining complexes in Uzbekistan have created toxic waste that has spread through the land, groundwater, air, waterways, and soil.

The soil in Uzbekistan is also polluted by industrial waste. The improper handling and disposal of industrial waste has polluted the land in Uzbekistan and other countries in Central Asia.

Government environmental policy

The government of Uzbekistan has acknowledged the extent of the country's environmental problems,

Area and boundaries

;Area:

:*total: 447,400&nbsp;km²

:**country rank in the world: 56th

:*land: 425,400&nbsp;km²

:*water: 22,000&nbsp;km²

;Area — comparative:

:* same size as Morocco

:* slightly smaller than Sweden

:* Australia comparative: slightly less than twice the size of Victoria

:* Canada comparative: slightly smaller than the Yukon

:* United Kingdom comparative: approximately larger than the United Kingdom

:* United States comparative: slightly larger than California

:* EU comparative: slightly less than times the size of Italy

;Land boundaries:

:*Total: 6,221&nbsp;km

:*Border countries: Afghanistan (137&nbsp;km), Kazakhstan (2,203&nbsp;km), Kyrgyzstan (1,099&nbsp;km), Tajikistan (1,161&nbsp;km), Turkmenistan (1,621&nbsp;km)

;Coastline:

:*0&nbsp;km (landlocked)

;Maritime claims:

:*None.

:**Note: Uzbekistan is one of only two countries (Liechtenstein) in the world that are doubly landlocked.

;Elevation extremes:

:*Lowest point: Sariqarnish Kuli − below sea level.

:*Highest point: Alpomish Peak,

Resources and land uses

;Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, coal, gold, uranium, silver, copper, lead and zinc, tungsten, molybdenum

;Land use:

:*arable land: 9.61%

:*permanent crops: 0.8%

:*other: 89.58% (2011)

;Irrigated land:

:*41,980&nbsp;km² (2005)

;Total renewable water resources:

:*48.87&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (2011)

;Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):

:*total: 56&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>/yr (7%/3%/90%)

:**per capita: 2,113 m<sup>3</sup>/yr (2005)

Deserts

Almost 80% of Uzbekistan (360,000 km² of 450,000 km²) are the deserts.

  1. Kyzylkum 298,000 km² among Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
  2. Ustyurt 200,000 km² among Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
  3. Aralkum 68,000 km² between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan
  4. Mirzachoʻl 10,000 km² Uzbekistan
  5. Central Asian northern desert 663,000 km² among Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

References

bn:উজবেকিস্তান#ভূগোল