Lakes of Life
Politics and Society, UzbekistanOne Comment
Currently, the 11th World Lake Conference (31 October-4th November 2005) is taking place in Nairobi, Kenya. Obviously, due to the conference’s location, the focus appears to be on the great lakes of Africa. However, Klaus Topfer, executive director of the UN’s Environment Programme, has stated,
“We face increasing tensions and instability as rising populations compete for life’s most precious of resources.”
The World Lake Conference is the brainchild of the International Lake Environment Committee (ILEC), founded in 1986 and based in Japan. Discussion of the Aral Sea was the subject of a workshop (pdf) at the 9th World Lake Conference in 2001.
The desiccation of the Aral Sea, owing in the greater part to the agricultural and industrial policies of the Soviet Union, is well known. (Likewise, Kazakhstan’s Lake Balkhash is also reportedly teetering on the abyss of calamity.) The Kazakhs have already started doing their bit to preserve the Aral Sea - by building a dam.
The issue of the desiccation of the Aral Sea, and how to combat it, is closely related to that of water-usage, particularly the volumes of water the Central Asian nations believe they are entitled to draw from the Amu-Darya (which once upon a time flowed into the Aral Sea but, rather like the Okavango Delta in Botswana, disappears into the desert a few miles short of the sea) and the Syr-Darya (which still flows into the Aral Sea).
The impact of the dessication of the Aral Sea has been most keenly felt in Uzbekistan’s Republic of Karakalpakstan, particularly Nukus, once a thriving local hub but now little more than a rust-belt settlement. Visitors testify to its grim nature. (Despite the presence of the unique Savitsky Art Museum - an unparallelled treasure-trove of Soviet-era art banned under the strictures of Soviet Realism. Many of the painters disappeared into the Gulag or were executed.)
Anyway, it will be interesting to hear if the Aral Sea does come up for discussion at the current World Lake Conference.
RSS Feeds
Podcasts
Roundup
Azerbaijan’s parliamentary elections will be taking place this weekend. azerbaijan.neweurasia.net will have live reporting by Katy (who is in Baku), Marianna and Ben. To get the full roundup of events from last week, check Marianna’s lates…