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Future for Aral Sea
hopefully assured
Still extremely unlikely dead sea will ever resume its
former glory
It is extremely unlikely that the
dead Aral Sea will ever resume its
former glory. The governments of
Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in particular
have tried to recreate lakes
and some of the lost water supply. The
result has so far been disappointing,
but this large body of water was not just
about extinct fish and ecology.
It also fed the economic needs of
local populations and created a health
headache when poisonous dust plumed
up and circulated far and wide in the
atmosphere from the dead sea-bed.
The toxins are varied but dioxins were
responsible for a host of maternal and
child health problems. Fortunately they
should have decayed chemically by
now.
The health problems remain however,
as the affected individuals still
suffer the consequences. We have been
covering the Aral Sea closely and very
recently looked at the conferences
ecological perspectives.
The Urgench conference last
week was very successful, with wise
investment in projects that stretched
from the essential and expensive health
programmes to true ecological afforestations
and more examples of local
damming for lake creation. The ultimate
problem is water supply, as global
warming creates even hotter and drier
conditions throughout the Aralkum and
neighbouring Karalkum desert.
How the rivers can be reincarnated
to their former flow rates is debateable.
The Amu Darya in particular is
still diverted too often for the lucrative
cotton crop. In the head waters, the
luxury of persuading more water to
descend is complicated by the needs of
neighbouring Tajikistan.
The 3rd programme of the IFAS
(International Fund for Saving the Aral
Sea) organisation had $2 billion dollars
to spend but further necessary work on
these multiple problems was supported
by a large and ongoing Turkish aid
programme in agricultural education,
irrigation and forestry.
Japan is also extraordinarily generous
with a magnificent $3.6billion aid
The great
jerboa,
Allactaga major,
is a typical
inhabitant of
the Aral region,
important in
the predation
of insects and
as prey for the
little owl and
many others
programme to the 5 Central Asian
nations so far distributed. With Latvia
currently presiding over the EU, their
report was almost as generous, as 160
million will be exclusively available to
Uzbekistan between 2014 and 2020.
Such monies will be dedicated to water
and waste issues, with private companies
already signed up to deliver the
much needed help.
In cooperation with UNDP, German
Federal Government help has always
been forthcoming too, with GIZ supporting
water resources management,
combating desertification and creating
an environment favourable for the
growth of small business and vocational
training.
Many types of funding from
banks such as the Islamic Bank,
UNEP and UNESCO stem from their
officials based in Tashkent. The Danish
Secretary General of the UNECE
(Economic Commission for Europe),
Friis Bach, was present to give his
account of how aid was contributing
to afforestation projects through the
guidance of IFAS.
The increasing threat from climate
change was integral to his speech.
This is possibly the greatest problem,
as we try to conserve more water with
modern irrigation techniques. The
insufferable summer heat in the future
will evaporate even more of the water
needed despite efforts to improve
the Aral Sea’s economy, ecology and
health. – www.earthtimes.org
green+.2014, november-december 71