Between the 1960s and 1990s, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers that flowed from the mountains to supply the lake were redirected to irrigate 7 million hectares (1.7 million acres) of cotton fields for the Soviet Union.
There you go.
But also
Aralkum’s dust is particularly toxic compared to the rest of the region’s desert dust because it contains runoff from nearby USSR chemical weapons testing and is full of fertilizers and pesticides from the same mass agricultural practices responsible for draining the Aral Sea.
How can such an article be published in Feb 2025 without also mentioning the incredible results already reached in restoring the lake?
only small parts in northern
Satellite image of the month September 2024
https://www.mundialis.de/en/satellite-image-of-the-month-september-northern-aral-sea-kazakhstan/
and yes there’s a project to replenish Aral Sea
Desert Rebirth: Kazakhstan and USAID’s Aral Sea Restoration Partnership
Yup, i thought the aral sea was destroyed decades ago
I read this post right after the one about gay monsters and so I misread Aral Sea very badly
Cotton soaks up all the water.
