Aral Sea

Aral Sea

Background
1. world's 4th largest inland sea
2. river Abu Darya and Syr Darya have been irrigated
  1. these rivers run through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and turkmenistan
3. main crop being grown is cotton and fruit
4. began to shrink in the 1960's
5. only 10% of Aral sea remains in 2007
  1. more than 50 miles away from locals homes
6. sea level fallen upto 40m
7. land become mostly desert
Environmental Catastrophe
1. dying of the aral sea has led to increase salinity levels in agricultural soils
2. cotton monocultures led to toxic pollution due to pesticides (DDT) sprayed over villages and cotton field workers
3. local climate change has increased temperatures, there's less rain and more desertification
4. 150,000 tons of toxic chemicals have contaminated the water in the last 10 years
  1. has led to polluting the soil and water supplies
5. water quality has reduced fish numbers
6. most water sources in Karakalpakstan are polluted
  1. caused mainly by agro-industry and mining industries
7. Northern Karakalpakstan schools/hospital have no access to safe drinking water
  1. in the past 40-45 years they've been using mineralized and polluted drinking water
Socio-Economic Issues
1. A prosperous industry which oncle employed 60,000 people in all villages has collapsed
2. unemployment and economic hardship are everywhere
3. health problems caused by wind-blown salt and dust from the dried out sea bed
4. pollution due to weapons, testing, industrial projects, pesticides
5. infant mortality is very high. 10% of children dying in their first year
6. upto 10 million people may be forced to migrate and become environmental refugees
7. low birth weight, retardation, delayed puberty
8. lack of hospitals and health centres in the region
9. irrigation allowed the poor country with few sources to remain one of the worlds largest exports of cotton

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	Created by tahseen_365 over 10 years ago