Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Agriculture, livestock and food · Uzbekistan · 2017–2026

Uzbek cotton clusters took farmers' land and set quotas, rights group reports

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
What the record lacks: 3 none on record · 1 insufficient · 1 not measured See the gaps

Human Rights Watch reported in February 2026 that cotton and wheat farmers in Uzbekistan face quotas, threats to their land, beatings and detention. Land and purchasing were moved into non-tender clusters, and state banks and taxpayers absorbed the losses.

What?
Uzbekistan placed cotton land and purchasing under non-tender clusters, and HRW reported quotas, threats to farmers' land, beatings and detention. Human Rights Watch and Uzbek Forum
Where?
Uzbekistan, nationwide cotton cluster system
When?
Case file covers 2017 to 2026; HRW report dated 16 February 2026; Kun.uz article dated 13 April 2023. Human Rights Watch and Uzbek Forum
Who?
Gained
  • Cluster owners, including Senator Murtazo Rakhmatov — Non-tender control of land and purchasing; his cluster took over 22,400 ha from 475 farmers, per the case file
  • Indorama Agro — Development-bank loans from IFC (60 million), EBRD (70 million) and ADB (15 million dollars), repaid early in January 2025, per the case file
  • Central state — EU GSP+ trade preference (28 million euro) and World Bank financing (800 million dollars), as listed in the case file
Lost
  • Cotton farmers — Land-lease terms shortened and planting imposed, per the case file
  • Workers in the Indorama Agro area — About 14,500 jobs lost, per the case file
Harmed
  • Farmers — Quotas, threats to land, beatings and detention, per HRW Human Rights Watch and Uzbek Forum
  • Taxpayers — Cluster losses of 6 trillion som were covered by state banks and taxpayers, with a rescue of 3 + 3 trillion som, per the case file
  • A blogger who supported farmers — Sentenced to 6.5 years in prison, per the case file
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed; the case file ties the gains to control of land and state insurance.
How?
Land and purchasing were moved into non-tender clusters, quotas were imposed on farmers, and a presidential adviser ordered cotton to be collected without asking farmers.
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Human Rights Watch reported in February 2026 that cotton and wheat farmers face quotas, threats to their land, beatings and detention.

Kun.uz reported in April 2023 that 134 clusters covered more than 1 million hectares.

Land and cotton purchasing were moved into non-tender clusters, and Senator Murtazo Rakhmatov, who set up the first cluster, became head of the Cluster Union.

In April 2025, 89 civil society organisations made an urgent call to the IFC and EBRD on Indorama Agro, which the case file says repaid its loans early in January 2025.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: ILO figures of about 4% (2020) and about 1% (2021) for forced cotton pickers, based on 11,000 interviews in 2021.
    • None on record The sources do not say what the 134 and 157 cluster counts in the HRW report cover, or how many farmers each cluster holds.
    • None on record The 3.2 billion dollar export figure cited by Kun.uz is not tied to the clusters in the sources reviewed.
    • None on record The case file says eight officials were punished in 2025 for 74 violations; the sources do not say whether this covers the cluster abuses.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    Communities and civil society

    1. Farmers Have No Freedom
      Human Rights Watch and Uzbek Forum · 2026-02-16
    2. Urgent Call on the IFC and the EBRD
      89 civil society organisations · 2025-04-03

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Terms used on this page

    Science and environment

    Hectare (ha)
    A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.

    Carbon and conservation finance

    Voluntary carbon market
    Trade in carbon credits bought by choice, mostly by companies, outside legally binding emission schemes.

    Bonds and banking

    Liquidation, insolvency, bankruptcy
    Legal processes that apply when a company cannot pay its debts; its assets are sold and claims against it may go unpaid.
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