Aral Sea

The Aral Sea is actually not a sea at all. In the last 30 years, more than 70 percent of the sea has disappeared. Pictures shows results of the shrinking of the Sea and live in former harbor towns and villages. Pictures were made in Kazkhstan and Uzbekistan in 2007.

The Aral Sea, partly situated in Karakalpakstan an autonomous republic of Uzbekistan, was once the world's fourth largest lake and belonged to the former Soviet Union. In 1958 the Soviet Union diverted the two rivers that fed the Aral to grow cotton and rice in the desert for export. Consequently, the sea has evaporated leaving behind it a toxic environment.