Aral Sea: Dead or Alive?by Natalya PrilipkoJanuary, 2014
― Mahatma Gandhi
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.”
UzbekistanKazakhstan
Aral Sea
2013
Map view
Aral Sea in the 1960
• 4th largest freshwater lake in the world
• 68,000 km2 in area (the size of Uruguay)
• 1,056 km3 in volume (250 Kinnerets)
• booming fishing industry employed approx.
40,000 people
• 32 different kinds of fish
• 319 different types of birds
• 70 different species of mammals
1988 - “White gold” industry boom
Bio-Weapons Playground
● anthrax
● smallpox
● plague
● brucellosis
● tularemia
Degradation over the years
Over-irrigationOver-irrigation Over-exploitation Mismanagement
1960 border
Where is the Aral Sea Today Ecologically?
● 10 % of it’s original size● water level has dropped approximately 23 meters● water resources polluted and severely mismanaged ● 6 kinds of fish vs. 32 kinds in the original waters● 160 kinds of birds vs. 319 kinds in the original ecology● 32 kinds of mammals vs. 70 kinds originally ● more than 50 large lakes around the area have dried up● mass deforestation along Amudaria river bed
Aral Sea Today Socially & Economically
● 130,000 people were affected
● US$115 mln - accumulated economic losses
● US$28.8 mln – accumulated social losses
● high inflation, unemployment and poverty rates
● no drinking water within the radius of 200 km
● high mortality rates including infant mortality
● high number of life-threatening diseases
How it was regulated?
Source: http://www.cawater-info.net
Joint Statement of the Heads of State - Founders of IFAS (2009)
International community involved
UN Aral Sea Programme
Decontamination of the Anthrax burial sites
4 projects140M US$
Aral Sea Area Drought Relief Project - 150000$
― locals
“If everyone who came to study the Aral Sea had brought a bucket of water, the sea would be full by now”
Conclusion
“The Aral Sea
cannot be saved
to its prior grandeur.”
UNEP's conclusion
Film tugady = The end
Sources
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea. Cornell university case study The Aral Sea: An Ecological Disaster By: I.Rudenko and J.P.A.LamersWorld bank websiteUN websiteAsia development bank websitehttps://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5810891.Mahatma_Gandhi
RESOURCES USED