The Aral Sea
Wednesday 24 March 2010By EU Reporter Correspondents
The loss of the Aral sea was quite possibly the worst man-made environmental disaster in history. It is also a damning indictment of Soviet era policy and planning. But now there is cause for optimism, as the sea begins to recover, following completion of a dam project in 2005. Water levels are rising, salinity is dropping, and fish stocks are recovering to a level where cautious and low-level fishing will soon be viable.
This success illustrates the necessity for transnational governance in environmental issues. Russia and Khazakstan have led the recovery programme, and a recent conference on the situation in St Petersburg, bringing together actors from across the political and scientific spectrum, yielded encouraging signs of further cooperation.
Dr Mikhail Korgchagin writes for EU Reporter on the subject in our forthcoming issue, available soon.