GLF Live: How can we restore the Aral Sea basin? 02 Mar 2021, 12:00 CET, Online Share this GLF Live with Vadim Sokolov and Kristina Toderich The Aral Sea in Central Asia, once the world’s fourth-largest inland water body, has nearly disappeared. Weather shifts from climate change coupled with decades of resource depletion from the regional reliance on water-intensive crops, has seen the body of water shrink to about one-tenth of its former size – a water surface area the size of Ireland now nothing but sand. The Aral Sea basin spans the western reaches Uzbek-Kazakh border, and its degradation has taken with it the livelihoods and local economies of some 40 million people. Additionally, a formerly thriving fishing economy has been replaced with the growth of cotton, rice and other commodities that often receive toxic herbicides and pesticides, which have leeched into the sea bed and led to a rise in infant mortality rates and cancer.