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The Aral Sea: A Tragic Lesson in Sustainable Development
November 20, 2008
In 1960, the Aral Sea was the fourth-largest freshwater lake in the world. Today, the Aral Sea is in danger of disappearing from the face of the planet. How could this happen in such a short amount of time?
The story of the Aral Sea is a lesson in sustainable development. Other bodies of water across the world, most notably the Salton Sea in California and Lake Chad in Africa, are moving in the same tragic direction. For the past half-century the Aral Sea has been shocked by profound ecological changes: desertification, the destruction of fish and the fishing industry, climatic changes, and contamination from pesticides, chemicals, and biological weapons. Yet there are signs of hope that the damage done by humans is not irreversible. In order to understand why the Aral Sea was desiccated by human development, it is necessary to provide background into the economic decisions made by Soviet economic planners in the year 1960.
http://forum.thenorthpacific.org/single/?p=8098238&t=7066591
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