Socio-economic and Environmental Dimensions of the Aral Sea Disaster from the Sustainable Development Perspective

Abstract

The Aral Sea Basin environmental disaster has deteriorated the socio-economic and environmental circumstances of the local communities in Central Asia. The main challenges in the basin are water scarcity, food insecurity, health problems and economic contraction. Due to irresponsible use of water resources during the Soviet period and current climate change, the water body of the Aral Sea has decreased to the lowest level. This article aims to analyze the socio-economic and ecological impacts of environmental degradation in the Aral Basin from a sustainable development perspective which encompasses social, economic, and environmental dimensions. Moreover, several regional and international recuperation efforts were examined as examples of possible sustainable solutions. The contribution of this article to the literature is the assessment of the selected Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) performances of the basin countries located in Central Asia.