The Aral Sea, once the fourth largest lake in the world, has shrunk to only 10% of its original size due to overuse of water from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers for irrigation. This has caused an environmental and public health crisis, destroying the fishing industry and contaminating the region with pollutants and diseases from former biological weapons testing sites. While international efforts have sought to address the crisis through projects investing $140 million, the UNEP concluded the Aral Sea cannot be fully restored due to the severity of the environmental degradation and mismanagement of water resources.

1. Aral Sea: Dead or Alive?
by Natalya Prilipko
January, 2014

2. “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's
needs, but not every man's greed.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

4. 2013
Aral Sea
Uzbekistan
Kazakhstan
Map view

5. Aral Sea in the 1960
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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
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32 different kinds of fish
319 different types of birds
70 different species of mammals

8. 1988 - “White gold” industry boom

9. Bio-Weapons Playground
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anthrax
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smallpox
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plague
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brucellosis
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tularemia

10. Degradation over the years
Over-irrigation
Over-exploitation
Mismanagement

13. 1960 border

14. Where is the Aral Sea Today
Ecologically?
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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

15. 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

16. How it was regulated?
Joint Statement of the
Heads of State Founders of IFAS
(2009)
Source: http://www.cawater-info.net

17. International community involved
4 projects
140M US$
Aral Sea Area
Drought Relief
Project - 150000$
Decontamination of the
Anthrax burial sites
UN Aral Sea
Programme

18. “If everyone who came to study the Aral Sea
had brought a bucket of water, the sea would
be full by now”
― locals

19. Conclusion
UNEP's conclusion
“The Aral Sea
cannot be saved
to its prior grandeur.”

20. Film tugady = The end

21. Sources
RESOURCES USED
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.Lamers
World bank website
UN website
Asia development bank website
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5810891.Mahatma_Gandhi