The Aral Sea in Central Asia was once the fourth largest inland body of water, but Soviet irrigation projects caused it to shrink to less than 10% of its size in the 1960s, leading to the collapse of the fishing industry. The eastern part is now the Aralkum Desert, but Kazakhstan is making progress in restoring the North Aral Sea with a large dam.
Located in Central Asia between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea was the fourth largest inland body of water in the world during the first half of the 20th century. But what a difference fifty years can make. Today, the Aral Sea has almost completely disappeared; it has shrunk to less than 10% of the size it was in the 1960s. This environmental disaster was largely caused by Soviet irrigation projects which diverted the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers to irrigate crops, especially cotton. What’s left of the Aral Sea has become too salty for fish to survive, causing the region’s fishing industry to collapse. It is probably not much consolation to local residents that there has been an increase in tourism, as people come to see the dried up lake bed and rusting boats.
The tragedy of Lake d’Aral:
In various Turkic languages, aral means “island”. The name of the sea was a reference to the hundreds of small islands that once dotted its surface.
The eastern part of the Aral Sea has completely dried up and the seabed is now known as the Aralkum Desert.
With the construction of a large dam, Kazakhstan is making some tentative progress towards restoring the North Aral Sea. Over the past decade, water levels have risen and fish populations have even increased.
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