The Aral Sea Resuerrected

The destruction of the Aral Sea and its revival.

The Aral Sea lies between Kazakhstan in the north and Uzbekistan, in the south.
Once the world's fourth-largest inland saline body of water the Aral Sea has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet Union irrigation projects.
By 2007 it had declined to 10% of its original size, splitting into three lakes – the North Aral Sea and the eastern and western basins of the once far larger South Aral Sea.
By 2009, the south-eastern lake had disappeared and the south-western lake retreated to a thin strip at the extreme west of the former southern sea.
The region's once prosperous fishing industry has been virtually destroyed, bringing unemployment and economic hardship.
The Aral Sea region is also heavily polluted, with consequent serious public health problems.
The retreat of the sea has reportedly also caused local climate change, with summers becoming hotter and drier, and winters colder and longer.
There is now an ongoing effort in Kazakhstan supported by a Danish humanitarian group, Aral Tenizi, to save and replenish the North Aral Sea.
A dam project completed in 2005 has raised the water level of this lake.
Salinity has dropped, and fish are again found in sufficient numbers for some fishing to be viable.