direct proportion to the expansion of cotton fields, doubling the water volume by the year 2000. Compounding the problem, the canals were inefficient, losing up to 80% of intake to leakage and evaporation. As a direct result of these activities, the Aral Sea was drained within 50 years. Its depletion produced an unprecedented degradation of the regional eco-system and lake-economy while contributing to global climate change. The ever-expanding desert exposed the residue of years of industrial pollution and secret weapon testing by the USSR. Adding to an already toxic concoction of countless chemical compounds were fertilizers and pesticide runoff from adjacent irrigated areas. The dormant toxic seabed, once exposed, set in motion a series ripple effects on the global environment. Salinity increased from 35g/L to levels in excess of 100 g/L, destroying the regional ecosystem of the Aral Sea and its two river deltas. Vast areas of soil-retaining black saxaul woods, tugay forests and reeds disappeared. 2 The consequences to biodiversity are also grim as 164 species of animal life have disappeared. The wetlands of the Amu Darya delta were one of the most important palaearctic flyways in western Asia. 3 As they dried up, a mid- migration stopping point for millions of birds was destroyed. As the lake shrank, UV rays were no longer absorbed by water and atmospheric humidity dropped significantly, causing the region to experience hotter summers and colder winters which, in turn, contributes to global climate change. Stronger winds developed as rain clouds disappeared, spreading toxic dust throughout the region, across Turkmenistan, Iran,Afghanistan and beyond, ultimately reaching as far as the South Pole.
In the heart of Central Asia, the town of Moynaq sits surrounded by the windswept sands of Uzbekistan’s Aralkum desert. Once a prosperous fishing port on the shore of the Aral Sea, the town is now largely abandoned, its geographic and hydrographic infrastructure of islands, bays and straits having given way to the world’s youngest desert. 1 At one point considered the fourth largest lake in the world, more than 90% of the Aral Sea’s liquid ground cover has disappeared, manifesting its vast seabed and a new, toxic landscape. (As a comparison, this would be equivalent to fully draining two of Canada’s Great Lakes– Lake Erie and Lake Ontario –currently the tenth and twelfth largest lakes in the world.) The causes of this dramatic depletion are entirely man- made and have been executed in a mere 50 years. The question that remains is: what are the consequences of these myopic actions? The Aral Sea region provides a glimpse into the complex set of ecological effects that have been set in motion and their global impact. Meanwhile, the town of Moynaq and its inhabitants may give us insight into the temporal and socio-economic impacts caused by large scale anthropogenic climate change. The Aral Sea was fed by two watersheds, Syr Darya and Amu Darya. In the 1960s these rivers were diverted by a regional network of water canals to support massive irrigation projects for agricultural and cotton production. In the early stages of the project, cotton production grew quickly, making the USSR the world’s largest cotton exporter. This economic success came at a cost. Growing the thirsty cotton plant in the arid climate of southern Kazakhstan and northern Uzbekistan required massive quantities of water. The intake from the rivers was increased in
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Global reach of toxic dust from the Aral Sea bed
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