A Japanese citizens' group will cycle to Turkmenistan in Central Asia at the end of this month on another leg in their 15,000-km journey along the Silk Road.

The group's plan, being implemented in pieces over 20 years, is to bike along the Silk Road from the Chinese city of X'ian to Rome while contemplating environmental problems and conservation issues.

Cycling for about two weeks every summer, the group set out from X'ian in 1993 and arrived in Uzbekistan's Bukhara last year. It recruits participants on every trip, and about 280 people have participated so far. The group is scheduled to arrive in Rome in 2012.

During the trip to Turkmenistan, the group plans to take photos and bring back samples of plants and water from an area south of the Aral Sea that is shrinking due to desertification. Members of the group hope these can contribute to research on the area.

Cyclists will leave Bukhara on Aug. 30 and cover 700 km in nine days to arrive in Turkmenistan's capital Ashgabat. The group of 10 male participants includes a 26-year-old university student fluent in Russian. and a 72-year-old man.

Freelance journalist Noritaka Nagasawa, 48, a member of the group, said that although he has no expertise regarding environmental issues, he would like to share with others what he has experienced while cycling.

Yasunori Nakayama, at assistant professor at Nihon University, to which Nagasawa's group will donate the materials it collects on the trip, said there is an international lack of meteorological data on the areas around the Aral Sea.

He said he is eager to use the materials to analyze how plants respond to changes in water quality and desertification.

The Aral Sea began to shrink in the 1960s.

This is believed to be due to the irrigation projects carried out by the former Soviet Union.

The shrinking of the sea hurt Central Asia's natural environment, and salt from the sea damaged nearby crops.