Human-made Desertification in the Aral Sea Basin: Planning and Management Failures

Abstract

The ecological crisis in the Aral Sea basin, caused by bad planning and management of land and water resources, has attracted the attention of scientists during the last decade. This ecological disaster has resulted in changing the natural environment, causing severe damage to the economy of the five states in the Aral Sea basin and a deterioration in the living conditions of the population. The complexity of the disaster and the difficulty to reverse the land degradation, in the short or medium term, allow us in this case to speak of human-made desertification.