A former resident of Moynaq, in the autonomous region of Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan, remembers a time when the Aral Sea meant bustling fishing villages and days spent by the sea’s shore. “I was five or six the last time I saw ships in the sea when we went swimming,” says Marat Allakuatov.
The ships are long gone, like much of the lake.
Soviet mismanagement
This is largely down to years of Soviet-era mismanagement on a truly monumental scale. In 1960, the USSR took the decision to use the vast, arid plains of the region surrounding the Aral Sea for cotton farming, a water-heavy crop. Lacking sufficient hydraulic infrastructure, the Soviet state began an immense plan to divert two rivers, Sir Darya and Amu Darya, through a 500 kilometre-long channel to irrigate the cotton fields. Diverting the rivers – which fed the Aral Sea – deprived the lake of much of its water flow.
Ideas, Inventions And Innovations
Shrinking Lakes Worldwide Blamed on Climate Crisis
The Caspian Sea, seen here from the international space station ISS, is the largest lake in the world. Its water levels are falling due to climate change.
Credit: NASA/Scott Kelly Climate change is impacting not only the oceans, but also large inland lakes. As the world’s largest lake, the Caspian Sea is a perfect example of how a body of water can and will change. In an article in the Nature journal Communications Earth & Environment, Dr. Matthias Prange of MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen, and his colleagues discuss the possible ecological, political and economic consequences, as well as viable solutions.
El nivel del agua del mar Caspio bajará hasta 18 metros durante este siglo 20minutos.es - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from 20minutos.es Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Follow
Dec. 24, 2020
Global warming will not only cause sea levels to rise but lakes to shrink, a team of Dutch scientists warned this week. As a case in point, they predict a catastrophic drop in water levels in the Caspian Sea – presently the largest lake in the world – by the century’s end.
“Many people are not even aware that an inland lake is dramatically shrinking due to climate change, as our models indicate,” stated co-author Matthias Prange of the MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen, writing in Communications Earth and Environment. Which means countries are starting to think how to adapt to rising seas and creeping loss of low-lying coastland, but they’re not considering a decline in lake water levels.
Climate crisis is causing lakes to shrink
While global sea levels are rising due to the climate crisis and threatening near-coastal infrastructures, higher temperatures in other areas are having exactly the opposite effect. The water levels are falling and also causing massive problems. Although the consequences are equally serious, however, declining water levels are receiving less attention according to Matthias Prange, Thomas Wilke of the Justus Liebig University in Gießen, and Frank P. Wesselingh of the University of Utrecht and the Naturalis Biodiversity Center Leiden (the Netherlands). The Caspian Sea can be viewed as representative of many other lakes in the world. Many people are not even aware that an inland lake is dramatically shrinking due to climate change, as our models indicate, says Matthias Prange. The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also failed to mention lakes, and disregarded the social, political and economic consequences of gl