Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Aral Sea Crisis

  • Conference paper
Dying and Dead Seas Climatic Versus Anthropic Causes

Part of the book series: NATO Science Series: IV: Earth and Environmental Sciences ((NAIV,volume 36))

Abstract

The Aral Sea is a terminal lake amidst the deserts of Central Asia. Its size and water balance are fundamentally determined by river inflow and evaporation from its surface. Until the 1960s, the Aral was the world’s fourth largest lake in surface area. Over the past four decades, this water body has rapidly and steadily shrunk as countries in the Aral Sea Basin have increasingly taken inflow from its two influents, the Syr Dar’ya and Amu Dar’ya, for expansion of irrigation. The Aral’s diminution has directly and indirectly led to an array of severe problems in the surrounding region, ranging from degradation of major terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems to deterioration of human health and welfare. National, regional, and international efforts are underway to cope with these, but even their partial alleviation will be enormously costly and require many years. Full restoration of the Aral Sea to its former state is, at best, a remote possibility for the more distant future. However, rehabilitation of portions of it and adjacent areas that would partially restore former ecological functions and economic uses are feasible.

References

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Abdirov, Ch. A. et. al (1993), “Stress reaktsiya zdorovykh detey Nukusa na vozdeystviya otritsatel’nykh ekologicheskikh faktorov v Priaral’ye,” [Stress reaction of healthy children of Nukus from the effects of ecological factors in Priaral’ye] Vestnik Karakalpakskogo otdeliniya Akademii Nauk Respubliki Uzbekistana, No. 2, pp. 15–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Agrawala, Shardul et. al,(2001) “The Drought and Humanitarian Crisis in Central and Southwest Asia: A Climate Perspective,” The international Research Institute for Climate Prediction, IRI Special Report No. 01–11, November, 20 pp. (available at http://iri.columbia.edu)

    Google Scholar 

  • Aladin, N.V. and I.S. Plotnikov (1995), “K voprosy a vozmozhnoy konservatsii i reabilitatsii malogo Aral’skogo morya,” [Concerning the possibility of conservation and rehabilitationin of the small Aral Ses] Biologicheskiye i prirodovedcheskiye problemy Aralskogo morya i pryaral’ya, [Biological and natural science problems of the Aral Sea and near Aral region] Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta, RAN torn 262, 1995, pp. 3–16. For an English version of this study see Aladin, N.V., LS. Plotnikov and W.T.W. Potts, “The Aral Sea Dessication and Possible way of Rehabilitating and Conserving its Northern Part, Environmetrics, Vol. 6, pp. 17–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bel’gibayev, M. Ye. (1984), “Pylesolemep - pribor dlya ulavlivaniya pyli I soley v vozdushnom potoke,” [A dust/salt meter - an apparatus for entraining dust and salt from air currents], Problemy osvoyeniya pustyn’, No. 1, pp.72–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bortnik, V.N.(1996), “Changes in the water-level and hydrological balance of the Aral Sea,” pp. 25–32 in Micklin, Philip P. and William D. Williams (eds.). The Aral Sea Basin (Proceedings of an Advanced Research Workshop, May 2–5, 1994, Tashkent, Uzbekistan), NATO ASI series, Vol. 12 (Springer-Verlag: Heidelberg,).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bozheyeva, Gulbarshyn et al (1999), Former Soviet Biological Weapons Facilities in Kazakhstan: Past, Present, and Future, Monterrey Institute, Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Occasional Paper No. 1, June.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bortnik, V.N and S.P. Chistyaevaya (eds.) (1990), Gidrometeorologiya i gidrokhimiya morey SSSR [Hydrometeorology and hydrochemistry of the seas of the USSR], vol VII, Aral’skoye more [Aral Sea] (Leningrad: Gidrometeoizdat,).

    Google Scholar 

  • Chub, V. Ye. (2002), Izmeneniye klimata i ego vliyaniye na prirodno-resursnyy potentsial respublika Uzbekistana [Climate change and its influence on the natural resouce potential of the Republic of Uzbekistan] (Tashkent:Glavgidromet,).

    Google Scholar 

  • Chub, V. Ye (1998), “Regional’nyye problemi otsenki vliyaniya aerosoley (anthropogenennogo i prirodnogo proiskhozhdeniya) na klimaticheskiya kharakteristiki v tsentral’noaziatskom regione, [Regional problems of estimating the influence of aerosols (of anthropogenic and natural occurrence) on the climatic characteristics of the Central Asiatic region pp. 3–4 in, Materialy K nauchnomy rerional’nomu seminaru, Eolovyy perenoc soley v basseyne Aral’skogo Morya [Materials for the regional scientific seminar, Aeolian tranport of salt in the Aral Sea basin], Tashkent 4–5 March,.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dukhovnyy, V. (2003), email from Victor Dukhovnyy, 23 June.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dukhovnyy, V. (1999), conversation with Victor Dukhovnyy, director of the SIC, ICWC, Delft, Netherlands, July 19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dukhovnyy, V. A. and V. I. Sokolov, “Integrated Water Resources Management in the Aral Sea Basin,” no date.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eurasianet (2002), “Kazakhstan: World Bank Help for Aral Sea,” Feb. 24 (http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/environment/departments/environment).

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedich, Jani and Heidi Oberhansli (2003), “The Aral Sea: New Data from a Changing Ecosystem,” poster given at the Symposium on Dead and Dying Seas, Liege, Belgium, May 5–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glazovskiy, N.F., Aral’skiy krizis: prichiny vozniknoveniya i put’ vykhoda [The Aral crisis: causative factors and means of solution] (Moskva, “Nauka,” 1990), pp. 20–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • IFAS (2000) (International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea and Priaralye), Projects of the Aral Sea Basin Program Recommended for Implementation, Tashkent.

    Google Scholar 

  • ICAS (1996), Fundamental Provisions of Water Management in the Aral Sea Basin: A Common Strategy of Water Allocation, Rational Water Use and Protection of Water Resources, prepared with the assistance of the World Bank, October (no pagination).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamalov, Yusup (2003), “The Aral Sea: The Legends, the Problems, the Solutions,” Ecostan News, 10/1 (January-February), pp. 9–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kec’, A.S (1978), “Prichiny uzmeneniyy urobnya Arala v Goletsine,” [Reasons for the Aral’s level changes in the Holocene], Izvestiya Akamdemii Nauk SSSR, seriya Geograficheskaya, No. 1,, pp. 16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kes’, A.S. and I.A. Klyukanova (1990), “O prichinakh kolebaniya urovnya Aral’skogo moray v proshlom,” [The reasons for fluctuations of the Aral Sea in the Past], seriyaa geograficheskaya, No. 1, pp.78–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khvorog (ed.) (1992), Ekologicheskaya karta priaral’ya [Ecological map of the near Aral region], Alma-Ata.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kes’, A.S., B.P. Andrianov and M.A. Itina (1980), “Dinamika gidrograficheskoy seti I izmeneniya urovnya Aral’skogo morya,”[Dynamics of the hydrographic network and changes of Aral Sea Levels] pp. 185–197 in Kolebaniya uvlazhnennosti Aralo-Kaspiyskogo regiona v golotsene [Fluctuation of the moistness of the Aral-Caspian region in the Holocene] (Moskva: “Nauka).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kosarev, A.N., A.G. Kostyanoy and V.N. M. Mikhaylov (2003), “Aral, kotoryy my teryayem” [The Aral which we are losing], Zemlya i Vselennaya, No. 2, pp. 27–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Medecins sans Frontieres (2000), MSF in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, Activity Report 1999–2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Micklin, Philip (2002), “Water in the Aral Sea Basin of Central Asia: Cause of Conflict or Cooperation?” Eurasian Geography and Economics, 43, No. 7, pp. 505–528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Micklin, Philip P. (2000), Managing Water in Central Asia (London: The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Central Asian and Caucasian Prospects).

    Google Scholar 

  • Micklin, Philip P. (1998), “Regional and International Responses to the Aral Crisis,” Post-Soviet Geography and Economics, Vol. 39, No. 7 (September), pp. 399–417.

    Google Scholar 

  • Micklin, Philip P. (1994), “The Aral Sea Problem,” Civil Engineering, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, August, pp. 114–121.

    Google Scholar 

  • Micklin, Philip P. (1992), “The Aral Crisis: Introduction to the Special Issue,” Post Soviet Geography, Vol. XXXIII, No. 5 (May), pp. 269–283.

    Google Scholar 

  • Micklin, Philip P. (1991), The Water Management Crisis in Soviet Central Asia, The Carl Beck Papers in Russian and East European Studies, No. 905 (Pittsburgh: The Center for Russian and East European Studies, August).

    Google Scholar 

  • Micklin, P. (1987), “The Fate of ‘Sibaral’: Soviet Water Politics in the Gorbachev Era,” Central Asian Survey, No. 2, pp. 67–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mikheyev, N.N. (2002), “Voda bez granits,”[Water without limits] Melioratsiya i vodnoye khozyaystvo, No. 1, pp. 32–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mirabdullayev et. al, (2003) “Succession of the ecosystems of the Aral Sea during its transition from oligohaline to polyhaline waterbody” presentation at the Symposium on Dead and Dying Seas, Liege, Belgium, May 5–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • MKVK (Mezhgosudarstvennaya koordinatsionnaya vodokhozyaystvennaya komissiya) (2002) Byulleten, [Bulletin] No. 3 (31), August.

    Google Scholar 

  • NATO/OTAN (2002), Science for Peace: SfP Progress Report No. 4 (through October), Scientific and Environmental Affairs, 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  • Novikova, N. (1996), “The Tugai of the Aral Sea Region is dying: Can it be restored?” Russian Conservation News, February, No. 6, pp. 22–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Novikova, N. (1997), Printsipy sokhraneniya botanicheskogo raznoobraziya deltovykh ravnin Turana [Principles of preserving the botanical diversity of the deltaic plains of the Turan],.dissertatsiya v forme nauchnogo doklada na soiskaniye uchenoy stepeni doktora geograficheskikh nauk (Moskva).

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Hara, Sarah L., Giles F S Wiggs, Batyr Mamedov, George Davidson, Richard B Hubbard (2000), “Exposure to airborne dust contaminated with pesticide in the Aral Sea region,” Lancet Research letters Volume 355, Number 9204 19 February.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Optimism rises, with water, in bid to revive Aral Sea” (1999), The Christian Science Monitor, February 5, p. 7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pala, Christopher, (2003), “$85 Million Project Begins for Revival of the Aral Sea,” The New York Times, Tuesday, August 4, p. F3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palvaniyazov, M. (1989), “Vlyaniye pyl’nykh bur’ na mestoobitaniya nekotorykh mlekopitayushchikh primorskoy zony Aral’skogo morya,” [The influence of dust storms on the habitats of certain mammals of the coastal zone of the Aral Sea] Problemy osvoyeniya pustyn’, No. 1, pp. 55–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polad-Zade, P.A. (2002), “Soobrazeniye po upravleniyu vodnymi resurami v Tsentral’noy Azii: opyt proshlogo i realii sovremennosti,” [Thoughts about the management of water resources in Central Asia: past experience and modern realities] Melioratsiya i vodnoye khozyaystvo, No. 1, pp. 34–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ptichnikov, A. (ed.) (2002), Bulletin No. 3, NATO Science for Peace Project 974101: Sustainable Development of Ecology, Land and Water Use through Implementation of a GIS and Remote Sensing Centre in Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan (in Russian and English) (also available on line at http://www/sfpp.nm.ru/)

    Google Scholar 

  • Puziev, M.T. and V.G. Prikhod’ko (2002), “Otsenka perspektiv ustoychivogo razbitiya gosudarstv basseyna Aral’skogo moray s pomoshch’ model’nykh raschyotov,” [Evalustion of the future of sustainable development of the governments of the Aral Sea basin with the help of model calculations] Melioratsiya i vodnoye khozyaystvo, No. 1, pp. 54–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shivareva, S., Ye Ponenkova,. and B. Smerdov (1998), “Modelirovaniye urovnya Aral’skogo morya,” [Modeling the level of the Aral Sea], pp. 5–10 in Problemy basseyna Aral’skogo Morya, issledovaniya, proyekty, predlozheniya [Problems of the Aral Sea Basin, research, projects, proposals] (Tashkent, “Chinor” ENK).

    Google Scholar 

  • Temirov, Rustam (2003) “Lobbying Grows in Moscow for Siberia-Uzbekistan Water Scheme,” Eurasianet, February 19 (http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/environment/departments/environment)

    Google Scholar 

  • The Aral Sea Basin Sustainable Development Commisssion (1998), Reference Book, Training Course, Tashkent, 6–10 July.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tursunov, A.A. (1989), “AraPskoye more i ekologicheskaya obstanovka v Sredney Azii i Kazakhstane,” [The Aral Sea and the ecological situation in Central Asia and Kazakhstan] Gidrotekhnicheskoya stroitel’stvo, No. 6, pp. 15–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO (1998), Ecological Research and Monitoring of the Aral Sea Deltas, Aral Sea Project 1992–1996, Final Scientific Reports (Paris: UNESCO).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wijinsima, Petra (2000), “Deadly Soviet legacy threatens fishing village,” De Volkskrant, 31 March (English translation).

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, W.D. and N.V. Aladin (1991), “The Aral Sea: recent limnological changes and their conservation significance,” Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, vol. 1 pp. 3–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Bank, Aral Sea Basin Program (Kazahstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) (Water and Environmental Management Project, Washington, D.C., May 1998).

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank (1996), Aral Sea Basin Program, Phase 1: Progress Report No. 3, Washington, D.C., February.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zholdasova, I.M., L.P. Pavlovskaya, A.N. Urashbayev and S.K. Lubimova (1998), “Biological Bases of Fishery Development in the Waterbodies of the Southern Aral Region,” in Ecological Research and Monitoring of the Aral Sea Deltas, UNESCO Aral Sea Project 1992–1996, Final Scientific Reports (Paris: UNESCO), pp.213–215.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Western Michigan University (emeritus), Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA, 49006

    Dr. Philip Micklin

Authors
  1. Dr. Philip Micklin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Liège, Belgium

    Jacques C. J. Nihoul

  2. P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Moscow, Russia

    Peter O. Zavialov

  3. Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA

    Philip P. Micklin

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2004 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this paper

Cite this paper

Micklin, P. (2004). The Aral Sea Crisis. In: Nihoul, J.C.J., Zavialov, P.O., Micklin, P.P. (eds) Dying and Dead Seas Climatic Versus Anthropic Causes. NATO Science Series: IV: Earth and Environmental Sciences, vol 36. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0967-6_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0967-6_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-1902-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-0967-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation