The Aral Sea corresponds to an immense lake made up of salt water that is found in the center of the continent. Asian, this is considered an inland sea that settles between Kazakhstan (north) and Uzbekistan (south). Until 1960, it occupied an area of 68 thousand square kilometers, an extension that placed it as the fourth largest lake in the world.
The Aral Sea is witness to a major environmental catastrophe, in less than thirty years it has lost its size and shape. caused by anthropic action, more specifically by the diversion of part of its waters that were destined for irrigation.
Currently, the Aral Sea has approximately half of its original volume, while the percentage of salinity obtained a great increase in its levels, significantly reducing the amount of wildlife (fauna and flora). The 178 species of animals drastically decreased to 38, in addition to the fishing activity that produced about 25,000 tons a year currently does not exist anymore, because of the great intensity of salt that does not favor the population of fish.
The starting point for the destruction of the Aral Sea took place with the implantation of the government of the former Union Soviet, from the cultivation of extensive areas of cotton, with the application of pesticides and substances to defoliate the plants.
The unrestrained use of agricultural inputs (fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, among others) promoted a high volume of mortality from diseases that have been passed on in an inherited way, not to mention the loss of wildlife such as fish and others. animals.
By Eduardo de Freitas
Graduated in Geography