Best Aral Sea
The Aralkum Desert is a relatively new desert occupying the exposed bed of the former Aral Sea, located between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia. It formed as Soviet-era irrigation projects diverted the rivers feeding the sea, causing it to lose most of its volume beginning in the 1960s. Th...
Why this score?
Powerful environmental cautionary symbol from Aral Sea collapse; high significance despite bleak, human-made origin.
Scoring methodology
Aralkum National Nature Park is a protected area located in the Karakalpakstan region of Uzbekistan. Established to manage the ecological fallout of a major environmental disaster, the park protects the newly formed Aralkum Desert landscape. This area was created by the rapid retreat of the Aral Sea...
The Aral Sea was a large saline lake in Central Asia between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Beginning in the 1960s, extensive diversion of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers for irrigation greatly reduced the water reaching the lake, causing major shrinkage, rising salinity, exposed seabed, and the sepa...
Why this score?
Once immense and globally significant, now consensus centers on catastrophic ecological disaster and severe loss.
Scoring methodology
The Amu Darya is a major river of Central Asia formed by the meeting of the Panj and Vakhsh rivers. It flows through or along parts of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan before reaching the lowlands historically connected with the Aral Sea. The river has long supported irrigation,...
The Syr Darya is a major river of Central Asia formed by the confluence of the Naryn and Kara Darya rivers in the Fergana Valley. It flows through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan before reaching the northern part of the Aral Sea basin. The river is heavily regulated by dams, canals, and reser...
