Aral Sea

The Aral Sea sits between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and was once the fourth-largest inland body of water on Earth. For the past 60 years, though, humans have bled it nearly dry irrigating cotton crops, leaving behind a salty plain the size of Ireland. Its loss has long been seen as…

Once the world's fourth-largest lake, the Aral Sea has lost more than 90 percent of its surface area since the 1960s, leaving behind vast salt deserts between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Today, Chinese scientists and their Central Asian partners are working together to restore the region's fragile ecosystem, bringing new technologies…

This post is part of Global Voices’ May 2026 Spotlight series, “Global crisis, local solutions.” This series will offer stories of resistance and successful climate action, insight into how communities in the Global South are fighting back against the crisis, analysis of what this might mean for future generations, and…

By Jeff Wise Photographs by Anush Babajanyan It was the first human-made ecological disaster of the modern era. In 1960, the Aral Sea was the world’s fourth largest lake, a rich and productive ecosystem teeming with carp, bream, and other species—by one estimate, it provided a sixth of all fish…

The mighty inland sea lies stricken now, caught in the grip of some evil chemistry as its waters dry to salt and blow away as noxious dust to strike the people with illness and death.  It has never happened before within the time frame of a single generation, the disappearance of such a large…

From left to right, satellite images show the extent of the Aral Sea in 2000, 2007 and 2014. The Aral Sea dried up as a result of human activities and drought. (Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory) Central Asia's desiccated Aral Sea is steadily rising as Earth's mantle beneath it bulges,…

The Aral Sea was once one of the largest lakes in the world. But within just a few decades, human actions nearly dried it up. The surrounding regions in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have faced drought, soil salinization, and severe sandstorms. However, in recent years, international cooperation has given the Aral…

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It was shocking when researchers earlier this year revealed a river that originated from one of the largest glaciers in Canada abruptly disappeared over four days in 2016. The vanishing of the Slims river, however, was the result of global warming as the intense melting of the glacier led the…

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