What was once a prosperous agricultural region with a healthy fishing economy is now a no man’s land. The town of Moynaq visibly encapsulates this tragedy. Formerly, one of the sea’s two major fishing ports, it now stands some 100km from the shoreline, mostly abandoned. Before the 1960s, Moynaq housed the region’s harbour and finishing industries, providing more than 60,000 jobs. Today, not a single fish can survive in the sea. What remains of Moynaq’s redundant fishing fleet are semi-submerged ship carcasses rusting in toxic sand, beside a ghost-town of deserted factories, stagnant corrosive pools and decaying concrete shells of Soviet style pre-fab construction. The town’s population, now less than 2,000, suffers the full impact of the environmental disaster. As the more frequent windstorms spread a layer of toxic dust over everything, health problems have taken hold of the town’s residents: tuberculosis, rare forms of cancers and respiratory illnesses rage through the town. Two-thirds of the population suffers from chronic illnesses, child mortality rates are at 7.5%, comparable to that of sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, there is little access to fresh water due to high surface and groundwater pollution. Water distribution systems have deteriorated as well. Barrels of potable water are now delivered on donkeys, while broken down cars are scattered in the streets.
Man-made policies in Central Asia transformed the fourth largest lake in the world into a lifeless ‘sea’ of salinised sand, virtually incapable of supporting life. With the rise of interest in climate change, sustainability and green infrastructure, the narrowly prescribed roles of architecture, landscape architecture and urban design no longer apply. At home in Canada and the USA, similar environmental havoc threatens the Great Lakes region. According to the Lake Erie Management Plan, Lake Erie will lose 15% of its surface area by 2050. As the consequences are yet to be determined, let us take heed of the dramatic sight of ship cemeteries and ghost towns that dot the toxic landscape of the Aral Sea region. Let this serve as a call upon designers for a new level of responsibility through social practice and involvement in policy and strategic planning. In the meantime, the town of Moynaq will remain a tragic monument to the modern condition of environmental degradation by the myopic pursuit of economic wealth. n 1 Zonn, I S , Glantz, M, Kosarev,A N, Kostianoy,A G. The Aral Sea Encyclopedia, Springer, 2009. p2 2 By comparison, the salinity of average seawater is 35g/L, and the Dead Sea’s salinity is 300 g/L 3 Water Related Vision For The Aral Sea Basin . Division of Water Sciences , UNESCO, 2000
Toxic duststorm in Moynaq
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Johan Rehn
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