Aral Sea

Background: Lied between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan 4th largest lake in the world By 2007 it had declined to 10% of its original size. By 2009 the south-eastern lake had disappeared and the south-western lake had retreated to a thin strip From 1960 to 1998 the surface area dropped by 60% and volume by 80% Reasons for Insecurity: Soviet Government diverted rivers that fed Aral sea to irrigate the desert in order to grow rice, melons, cereals and cotton Dam building Poor water management Global warming - temperature rise means more evaporation - sea shrinks - less to evaporate so clouds don't form meaning less rain to top up sea

Impacts of Scarcity: Life expectancy drops from 65 to 61 3000% increase in bronchitis due to salt particles Increase in poverty Dried up land blown south causing disease Number of species of fish dropped 32 to 6 65% of Uzbekistans GDP comes from cotton Loss of income Benefit to Russia and local farmers because of cash crops

Solutions to Water Insecurity: Making sure water from main river is evenly split between sea and agricultural Controlled weir allows more water to flow into sea. 13km long dam allows it to connect and build up Fish hatchery to breed species Aim to release 150,000 juvenile fish in Autumn Killing southern Aral sea to get life into northern Aral sea

Impacts of Solution: More jobs - reduce poverty - multiplier effect Fish are returning Issues with overfishing Increase in biodiversity Southern Aral sea will eventually dry up More jobs - more industry Decline in soviet union - can get aid and funding from world bank

Key Players: Soviet Government - diverted rivers that feed Aral Sea to grow crops Local farmers - irrigation - very little impact, need water to live Industrial farmers - increasing irrigation World Bank - funding Fisherman - overfishing