Rotary is tackling one of the biggest environmental and political crises of the 21st century water resources and to do so, rotarians are leveraging their ability to build connections. This makes it possible to link the return of the aral sea with the more efficient use of water in the basin countries. Water and environmental management in the aral sea basin. Cotton production at aral sea, uzbekistan and turkmenistan.
The aral sea was once the 4th largest inland water bodies in the world with a volume of km3 and a surface area of 66000 km2 3. Tony french, senior lecturer in geography at university college london, said that at this rate there would be very little left of the aral sea by the millennium. The aral sea was an endorheic lake lying between kazakhstan and uzbekistan the name. The depth of the small aral to the north dropped to 12 m. The country that brought a sea back to life bbc future. By 1991 almost all river water was being diverted for irrigation and the sea had lost half its area. The aral sea is an example of the effects of water abstractions for irrigation from the amu darya and the syrdarya, the rivers which feed the aral sea, to grow cotton in the desert chapagain 2005. On the one hand there are the effects of water depletion, on the other hand the effects on water quality. The aral sea area, located on the border between kazakhstan and uzbekistan, was once the fourth largest inland sea in the world. Aral sea regional allocation model for the amudarya river usaidept project, technical report, daene c. The remnants of it nestle in the climatically inhospitable heart of central asia, to the east of the caspian sea. Akespe, home to some 250 people, and karateren, inhabited by about 150, used to be dominated by fishermen until the water receded too far away but it is now back in karateren. Since the collapse of the soviet union and the decentralisation of water management in the aral sea and its rivers, diplomatic tensions have been evident as.
It was once the fourth largest body of inland water in the world, with an area of about 26,300 square. Oct 02, 2014 in 2000 left, asias aral sea had already shrunk to a fraction of its 1960 extent black line. In the late 1980s the water level fell so low that the ancient sea split into two bodies of water. Click here to view chronological map or aral sea 19572007. The devil and the disappearing sea is the true story of a wellmeaning man who travels to one the earths poorest regions in the hopes of staving off an environmental tragedy. The water from the sea receded, and today, the shore is about 12 miles 20 kilometers from aralsk.
The two rivers that feed it are the amu darya and syr darya rivers, respectively reaching the sea. A massive irrigation project has devastated the aral sea over the past 50 years. Fishing ports suddenly found themselves in a desert. The kok aral dam is kilometres 8 miles long and has capacity for over 29 cubic kilometres of water to be stored in the north aral sea, whilst allowing excess to overflow. As the aral sea shrank and water became scarce, conflict occurred between the border states during the 1990s, which elhance shows in his text conflict and cooperation over water in the aral sea basin by highlighting three examples of interstate conflict 1997, p. Dinar, ariel, dinar, shlomi, mccaffrey, stephen c, mckinney, daene c. Salinity at the time was measured at 10gl grams of salt per litre of water. The aral sea is a terminal salt lake straddling the border between kazakhstan and uzbekistan in central asia, covering an area of approximately 68,478 km 2 with a total volume of 1,064 km 3, a maximum depth of 69 m, an average depth of 16 m and a shoreline stretching for more than 4,430 km in 1960 micklin et al. For example, the autonomous water authority created by bolivia and peru, which share lake titicaca, has enabled these countries to work together on the management of water resources. Tributary water to the aral sea derives from the rivers amu darya originating in tajikistan, and syr darya originating in kyrgyzstan.
Lessons on cooperation building to manage water conflicts in the. However, water stress in the asb has become a prominent ecological environment and socioeconomic issue in recent decades because of extensive agricultural expansion and inefficient drainage bekchanov et al. The aral sea was, until comparatively recently, the fourth largest inland body of water in the world. Most of the water feeding into the aral sea is from the. Problems of the aral sea and water resources of central asia. The south aral sea, half of which lies in uzbekistan, was abandoned to its fate. Aral seas eastern basin is dry for first time in 600 years. The shallow aral sea was once the worlds fourth largest body of inland water.
Aral sea neighbors resolve conflicts over water rotary. Murray compared the system to the slavery system in the precivil war united states. While a lot has been written and said about water management. Understanding transboundary water conflict, negotiation and cooperation second edition. Most of uzbekistans part of the aral sea is completely shriveled up. Fossil records indicate that the aral sea has had repeated major surface level fluctuations during the past 10,000 years smith 1994, 146.
The shoreline has radically changed, and the south aral sea remains almost completely desiccated. The aral sea is refilling for the first time in decades. Photo by mentat kibernes not too long ago everyone had pretty much written off the aral sea as a lost cause. Up until the third quarter of the 20th century it was the world. The rivers that fed it the amu darya and the syr darya were used by the. The aral sea is a terminal lake amidst the deserts of central asia. The water supply to the aral sea is mainly from two rivers, the amu darya and syr darya, which carry snow melt from mountainous areas. Aral sea simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Managers use a sluice gate to let some water flow from the north aral into the south aral.
A fisherman pours water out of his boat on the shore of the aral sea outside the village of karateren, southwestern kazakhstan, on 15 april 2017. Aral sea and lake chad are the most extreme examples of large lakes destroyed by unsustainable diversions of river water. Therefore, instead of bringing water out of the basin, the solution should be searched primarily within the basin. The two main rivers of amu darya and syr darya and their tributaries comprise the aral sea basin area and are the lifeline for about 70 million inhabitants in central asia. However, localised conflicts between minorities and respective. In 2000 left, asias aral sea had already shrunk to a fraction of its 1960 extent black line. The aral sea, which was once a unique, beautiful and one of the largest closed water reservoirs in the world, is practically on the verge of complete disappearance and turned into an unprecedented disaster and irreparable damage to the life of the population living there, the ecosystem and biodiversity of the aral sea. Since the mid 1980s, the decline in the aral sea water volume has accelerated. The uzbek side of the aral sea has turned to desert credit. Disappearance of the aral sea world resources institute. We compared to other studies of the aral sea, and it is apparent that research and data gathering has happened for a long time. The effects of water stress on croplands in the aral sea. Jun 14, 2017 fishermen ride in a truck to collect fish from a boat in shallow water by the aral sea, outside the village of karateren, southwestern kazakhstan, on 15 april 2017. The aral sea was the worlds fourth largest lake, but also the site of one of its worst manmade disasters.
Nov 01, 2010 as the bay is at a higher level than the small aral sea, the water from the bay would gradually fill the sea, allowing it to once again reach aralsk. Beginning in the 1960s, agricultural demands have deprived this large central asian salt lake of enough water to sustain itself, and it has shrunk rapidly. This book will hopefully become a reference source on the aral sea basin for a wide range of stakeholders from different. The aral sea was once the fourth largest body of inland water in the world with an area of 68,000 km2 but, as the map dramatically illustrates, it has now shrunk and fragmented to a mere shadow of its former self. The aral sea and its demise are of great interest and increasing concern to scientists because of the remarkable shrinkage of its area and volume that began in the second half of the 20th. The north aral sea projects main initiative is the construction of a dam across the berg strait, a deep channel which connects the north aral sea to the south aral sea. The aral sea going, going, gone a comparison of the aral sea in 1989 left and 2014 right. Since the 1960s, water volume has been reduced by a factor of fourteen. The south aral sea, which consist of a strip of water in the west and a driedout basin in the east, sits in uzbekistan. Mckinney, 1996 the aral coming to the aid of a dying sea newsletter article, 1996 sustainable water management in the aral sea basin water resources update, universities council on water resources, issue no.
In normal conditions, the aral sea gets approximately one fifth of its water supply through rainfall, while the rest is delivered to it by the amu darya and syr darya rivers. Although governative and progovernative books and journals pass positive. Aral sea, a oncelarge saltwater lake of central asia. Massive consumptive withdrawals of water from the amu darya and syr darya rivers are depriving the aral sea of its natural intake of water. As the aral sea has dried up, fisheries and the communities that depended on them collapsed. Fifty years ago, lake chad in africa had a surface area of 25,000 square kilometres. Naturesociety linkages in the aral sea region sciencedirect. Problems of the aral sea and water resources of central.
However, localised conflicts between minorities and respective governments have. This system would better mix the fresh river water with the salty sea water and could help reduce salinity, giving a further boost to native fish stocks. Karimov and ximing cai, 1997 amu darya river water allocation usaidept project, technical report, akmal kh. Waiting for the sea it took just 40 years for the aral sea to dry up. Water resources two main rivers cross the aral sea basin from the southeast to the northwest. Owing to the aral sea basin not being connected to other bodies of water, the vessels had to be.
This book offers the first multidisciplinary overview of water resources issues and management in the aral sea basin, covering both the amu darya and syr darya river basins. These images show the decline of the southern aral sea in the past decade, as well as the first steps of recovery in the northern aral sea. Water levels north of the dam, in what is today called the north aral or small aral sea, have risen three meters. Sep 30, 2014 the main theatre of crisis and conflict driven by depletion of water resources will be from southeast asia via south asia and central asia to turkey and from egypt along the eastern and central. The aral sea basin is considered a disaster zone by many. The aral is bordered by kazakhstan on the north and uzbekistan on the south. Evaporation causes the water level to decrease by the same amount that flows into the sea, making it sustainable as long as inflow is equal to evaporation on average. Once written off for dead, the aral sea is now full of. The aral sea water conflicts flashcards by molly abendroth. Until the crisis in the 20th century, the aral sea was the fourth largest saline lake in the world.
Request pdf water in the aral sea basin of central asia. It is between kazakhstan in the north and karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of uzbekistan, in the south since the 1960s, the aral sea shrank. Nov 12, 2014 the aral sea is shrinking at an alarming rate as water from its tributaries continues to be diverted for cotton production. The north aral sea teems with fish thanks to restoration. The increasingly salty water became polluted with fertilizer and pesticides. The water level in the aral sea started drastically decreasing from the 1960s onward. Efforts to resolve the aral sea crisis aquapedia case. Understanding transboundary water conflict, negotiation and cooperation second edition world scientific environmental and energy economics and policy 9789814436656. Aug 01, 2008 efforts over the past seven years have expanded the surface area of the aral sea by 30%. In 2017, heavy outflow from the north aral in the winter, spring, and summer caused the eastern lobe of the south aral to partially refill, explained philip micklin, a geographer emeritus from western. Aral sea neighbors come together to resolve conflicts over a scarce resource.
Not only was all this water being diverted into canals at the expense of the aral sea supply, but the majority of it was being soaked up by the desert and blatantly. May 30, 2014 the aral sea was, until comparatively recently, the fourth largest inland body of water in the world. The surface area of the aral sea in central asia has dropped by half, from. Landlocked fishing docks wait for the water to come back. The year 1992 marks two distinct but likewise related events in the history of transboundary water.
Ganges, and indus river basins, and the aral sea basin, the reader appreciates the repeated applicability of this books conceptual foundations. Once, the aral sea, located between kazakhstan and uzbekistan, was the fourth largest inland body of water in the world, with a surface area of 68,000 km2. Efforts to resolve the aral sea crisis aquapedia a water. Water governance and water management in the aral sea. Further irrigation and dry conditions in 2014 right caused the sea s eastern lobe to completely. The major source of employment was gone, and with it optimism and hope for the future. American journal of agricultural economics american journal of agricultural economics. More than half the mean annual runoff in the aral sea basin is generated in tajikistan and almost onequarter in kyrgyzstan. The aral sea transboundary river basin geography, climate and population geography the aral sea basin, total area 1. Disputes and dialogues routledge advances in jaina studies. Study the aral sea water conflicts flashcards from molly abendroths class online, or in brainscapes iphone or android app.
Its drainage basin also includes parts of tajikistan. Inadequate access to safe freshwater contributes to waterborne disease, malnutrition, poverty, economic and political instability, and conflictpotentially violent conflictbetween countries or groups within countries. The aral sea is located in the heart of central asia, roughly 200 miles 320 kilometers east of the caspian sea. The aral sea as a whole will never completely recover. The aral sea management experience and lessons learned. In the 1960s, a massive irrigation project diverted its. Aral sea transboundary river basin 3 about 90 percent of tajikistan and kyrgyzstan is mountainous. By the end of the century the aral sea had receded into three separate lakes. Aral sea rehabilitation programs first phase hailed as. The aral sea is the largest inland body of salty reservoirs in the world. In comparison, the oceans are about 35 gl, and the dead sea about 300 gl. The conflict over water has been nonviolent and mostly diplomatic. From the pamir and tien shan mountain ranges, the amu darya and syr darya rivers flow through the postsoviet republics of central asia kazakhstan, uzbekistan, kyrgyzstan, tajikistan, and turkmenistan and feed into the aral. Many books, investigations, and surveys have tried to do that.
In 1995, the world bank and kazak government built a dam to prevent water in the northern section from flowing into the southern portion. The water level had dropped to 125 feet 36 metres above sea level. Demands on the watershed for irrigation and other purposes have overdrawn water resources. These rivers together account for the only inflow surface precipitation and groundwater contributions are minimal of water to the aral sea. Instead, he encounters corrupt officials, bumbling bureaucrats, antiwestern hostility, and a slew of insurmountable problems. May 23, 2008 by 1987, the aral sea had split into two segmentsthe north aral sea in kazakhstan, and the south aral sea, more or less in uzbekistan. Satellite photos show how the depredations of dictators have turned the worlds fourth largest inland sea into a poisonous desert. The destruction of the aral sea ecosystem has been sudden and severe. May 16, 2017 in the 1960s the problems of the aral sea arose and took on alarming proportions as a result of thoughtless regulation of the major transboundary rivers of the region the syrdarya and the amudarya, which provided the aral sea in the past with 56 cubic km of water annually. Scott drazan period 7 ecological and economic impacts the aral sea was part of the soviet union and is located in modern day kazakhstan and uzbekistan. The aral sea is situated in central asia, between the southern part of kazakhstan and northern uzbekistan.
But in one small part of the sea, water is returning. Other lakes that have shrunk significantly due to human diversions of water include the dead sea in the middle east, lake manchar in pakistan, and owens lake and mono lake, both in california. Oct 07, 2019 when it was the fourth largest body of inland water in the world, the aral sea fed life into central asia and supported threequarters of its population. The incredible shrinking aral sea 19602014 brilliant maps. In the period between 1911 and 1960, an annual average of 56 billion m3 of water was spilled on the aral sea. The salty dust blew off the lakebed and settled onto fields. Irrigation works on the syr darya have been repaired and improved to increase its water flow, and in october 2003, the kazakh government announced a plan to build dike kokaral, a concrete dam separating the two halves of the aral sea. The soviet union hid the seas demise for decades until 1985, when leader mikhail gorbachev revealed the great environmental and human tragedy. A significant feature of the region is the number of oases fergana valley, khorezm. Changes in area and water volume of the aral sea in the arid. The aral sea, on the border of kazakhstan and uzbekistan, is a cautionary tale about how changes to ecosystems can have farreaching impacts on the communities that depend on the services they provide in the early 1900s, the aral sea was the fourth largest inland lake in the world, providing a wealth of important ecosystem services to communities. This work is in the public domain, cc0 the aral sea is a lake located east of the caspian sea between uzbekistan and kazakhstan in central asia.
The conference will feature discourse about the conflict over the aral sea basin by analyzing environmental concerns, bringing international awareness to the resource dispute, and finding solutions to settle water scarcitybased contentions in central asia. The blowing dust from the exposed lakebed, contaminated with agricultural chemicals, became a public health hazard. The researchers would have spent a lot of time to figure out the problem and data for the area. Work is being done to restore in part the north aral sea.
The alternative of carrying water from the other basin to the aral sea may not be a sustainable solution. By the late 1980s the seas level had dropped so much that the water had separated into two distinct bodies. Increased water and irrigation for agriculture and cotton cons. It is situated west of the pamir and the tien shan in a semiarid to arid region 4. The aral sea was once one of the four largest lakes in the world. Geographically it covers an extensive area of central asia, most of tajikistan. Situated in the centre of the central asian deserts at an altitude of 53 metres above the sea level, the aral sea functions as a gigantic evaporator. During wet and snowy years, these releases are common. It lies between kazakhstan to the north and uzbekistan to the south.
The aral sea is located between kazakhstan and uzbekistan and was once the fourth largest lake in the world. Mckinney, 1996 the aral coming to the aid of a dying sea newsletter article, 1996. Environmental degradation of the aral sea in central asia has caused a loss of livelihoods and led to resource competition over water amongst the states sharing the basin, especially kazakhstan, kyrgyzstan, tajikistan, turkmenistan, and uzbekistan. For one, the collapse of the soviet union introduced a new era in international relations accompanied by several opportunities for cooperation over transboundary water. It was once the worlds fourth largest body of inland water but has shrunk remarkably because of the diversion of its sources of inflowing water for irrigation beginning in the second half of the 20th century. The aral sea basin asb a list of abbreviations is provided in table s1 is an important cotton producer in the world white, 20. Further irrigation and dry conditions in 2014 right caused the. Water diversions, agricultural practices, and industrial waste have resulted in a disappearing sea. Only excess water from the north aral sea is periodically allowed to flow into the largely driedup south aral sea through a sluice in the dyke. Conflict over water in the aral sea ecc platform library. In a lastditch effort to prevent a looming disaster, uzbekistan has set its hopes on international donors.
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