The Aral Sea Crisis Region

The term Aral Sea crisis region covers the lower stretches of the rivers Amudarya and Syrdarya, where the effects of the diversion of the river water from the Amudarya and Syrdarya are a blatant case. The drying of the Aral Sea, according to the Scientific Board for Global Environmental Changes of the German Federal Republic (WBGU), was declared the greatest environmental disaster caused by mankind in this century by changing the regional water budget. The disintegration into smaller water bodies is reality. Meanwhile the knowledge and information basis on the status of land degradation and on current activities in the crisis region is still insufficient. Up-to-date information on monitoring of land use and of the situation of the ecosystems in the crisis region is important, since the ecological situation is very dynamic and unstable. Degradation and desertification are threatening the whole population of the area and endangering their basis of living.