Aral Sea Disaster

The Aral Sea Disaster refers to the dramatic shrinkage of the Aral Sea, once one of the world's largest lakes, located between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Starting in the 1960s, Soviet irrigation projects redirected rivers that fed the sea to grow cotton, drastically lowering its water levels. This led to the sea splitting into smaller bodies of water, devastating local ecosystems, fisheries, and communities that depended on the sea for their livelihoods. The saline dust from the exposed lakebed also affects air quality and regional climates, illustrating the far-reaching impacts of environmental mismanagement.