Page 62 - Steppe - Aigana Gali
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Aral Sea
OOnce a thriving oasis lying between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea was a popular hub of bustling activity supporting a flourishing
ecosystem and extensive fishing community. Known as the fourth largest lake in the world, from the 1960s the Aral Sea suered extreme desiccation, as a result of the diversion of the rivers feeding the basin, for Soviet irrigation projects. As water dramatically receded, salinity levels reached an all-time high. Land pollution and toxicity followed, the ecosystem was destroyed, and the prosperous fishing industry supporting tens of thousands of workers collapsed.
Today it is a ghostly site of sand, salt, and pollution, strewn with ship graveyards.
However, with their independence Kazakhstan began a restoration project, replenishing parts of the lake, known as the North Aral Sea. Completed in 2005, the water levels began to increase, salinity dropped, and fish stocks returned; native plants now proliferate on the banks, and wild pelicans, flamingos, and ducks have returned to the ‘Island Sea’.
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