Shrinking of the Aral Sea: Causes, Effects, Possibilities of Revitalization

Abstract

The Aral Sea, which a few dozen years ago was the fourth largest lake in the world, currently exists only in a rudimentary form. The drastic reduction in the flow of water from the two great rivers feeding the Aral Sea, caused by the Soviet plan to irrigate cotton-growing areas, caused enormous economic, social and health problems and a decline in biodiversity. The main natural consequences of disturbing the water balance are: a significant decrease in biodiversity, local climate changes, an increase in the salinity of remaining waters and dry bottom soils. The social consequences discussed include: the decline of fishing and fish processing and the disappearance of tourism, which results in unemployment and increased poverty of the local population. A very important problem are dust storms that arise on a dry bottom and spray salty and toxic dust throughout the Aral Sea basin, which results in different negative health effects for the people living there. The article also discusses the possibilities of minimizing the price paid for shrinking a large body of water. A return to the pre-1960 state is very unlikely in the foreseeable future, but a relatively simple, although partial, solution to the problem, is to reduce soil erosion by introducing vegetation. The research proposed and conducted by a group from the National University of Uzbekistan is aimed at correlating soil parameters with the possibilities of effectively introducing plants into existing habitats. The importance of the selection of species was pointed out not only because of their adaptation possibilities, but also because of their economic importance and phytoremediation possibilities.