THE COMPLETE STORY: Click on the icon to view a dedicated webpage bringing together all of RFE/RL's coverage of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
'Aral Tengizi -- Story of a Dying Sea'
1
Desiccation of the Aral Sea, once the fourth-largest freshwater lake in the world, has left separate bodies of water that cover about one-quarter of the surface area of a half century ago - Photographer Radek Skrivanek spent two years on a project to highlight "the demise of the Aral Sea." These are some of the images from his 'Aral Tengizi -- Story of a Dying Sea' exhibition, which is on display at the Peer Gallery in New York City (all photos copyright Radek Skrivanek-www.radekphoto.com)
2
Tire tracks and seashells share a piece of land where the Aral Sea once stood - In the former Soviet Union, intensive farming of the fragile steppe in the 1950s and 1960s, enormous irrigation projects, and widespread use of pesticides contributed to desertification (all photos copyright Radek Skrivanek-www.radekphoto.com)
3
A man reclines on a pile of freshly harvested cotton - Soviet central planners in the 1960s decided to divert two of the main rivers feeding the Aral Sea: the Amu-darya and the Sir-darya. Uzbekistan became one of the world's biggest cotton producers as a result (all photos copyright Radek Skrivanek-www.radekphoto.com)
4
Cotton pickers - Cotton, like rice, is a particularly thirsty crop that takes a heavy toll on soil. Some 40 million people depend on upstream irrigation, diverting precious water en route to the Aral Sea (all photos copyright Radek Skrivanek-www.radekphoto.com)
5
A buoy in the Aral Sea's former Gulf of Saryshyganak - Most of the Aral Sea region's water resources originate in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, with rivers from those two countries irrigating lands in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan before flowing into the Aral Sea. By the 1980s, according to UNESCO, the flow of fresh water into the Aral was just 1/10 of its level in 1950 (all photos copyright Radek Skrivanek-www.radekphoto.com)
6
The "shores" of the Karatun Peninsula, in Kazakhstan's northern portion of the Aral Sea - Kazakh and World Bank officials claim that the Northern Aral, where much of the recent work has taken place, stands a good chance of survival. Environmentalists from groups like Kazakh-based Nature, however, argue that there has been little result from money spent so far (all photos copyright Radek Skrivanek-www.radekphoto.com)
7
Rusted-out hulls from an abandoned Aral Sea fleet. The "Aleksei Leonov" and her sister ship in the windswept basin of the former Dzambul Harbor - Control of water resources has increasingly become the focus of global and regional security concerns. Groups like NATO have organized events to examine the potential for conflict over water supplies in arid regions (all photos copyright Radek Skrivanek-www.radekphoto.com)
8
The "Smelaya," a barge whose rotted-out hull rests in the former Bay of Butakov - The chemical dust and salt left behind by the retreat of the increasingly polluted Aral Sea are whipped up by high winds, punishing anything in their path. Average life expectancy in the region has fallen from 64 to 51 years (all photos copyright Radek Skrivanek-www.radekphoto.com)
9
The "Vostok," a fishing vessel abandoned to the elements by the Aral's retreat - Water agreements have been made and broken among Central Asia's post-Soviet republics, with economic hardship and fluctuating water demands making cooperation more difficult (all photos copyright Radek Skrivanek-www.radekphoto.com)
10
A local museum display depicting the Aral coast bustling with life early in the Soviet period - As the sea dried up, rising salinity levels contributed to the lack of habitat to doom most of the animals and plants that were once so common. For the people who remain in the region, drinking water contains several times the World Health Organization's recommended level of salt (all photos copyright Radek Skrivanek-www.radekphoto.com)
11
Locally extinct species of fish in formaldehyde at a museum in the Aral region - UNESCO says just two of the 30 species that once inhabited the Aral Sea have survived locally (all photos copyright Radek Skrivanek-www.radekphoto.com)
12
A sign that once warned travelers approaching the coast to beware of wild animals - The past decade and a half has seen international efforts to save the rapidly depleting Aral Sea, with each of the five former Soviet republics of Central Asia earmarking 1 percent of their annual budgets to restore it. There have been signs of progress in the Northern Aral, where much of the activity has been concentrated (all photos copyright Radek Skrivanek-www.radekphoto.com)