Aral Tengizi: story of a dying sea

The demise of Soviet Central Asiaís Aral Sea is more than another ecological disaster. It is a metaphor for our attitudes toward the environment, and the conflict between man and nature.

This ìdying seaî and the communities struggling not to die with it is the story of agricultural water development. Originally two rivers--Amudarya in the south and Syrdarya in the north--fed the Aral Sea. In 1954, when the Communist eraís ìVirgin Lands Campaignî tagged Central Asia for cotton and rice production to feed and clothe the Soviet empire, water was diverted from the sea for irrigation. Resulting in thousands of jobs and record harvests, the plan appeared successful. But in the 1960s the Aral Sea began to shrink because its annual water supply was going to the land.

Plans to replenish it from Siberian rivers failed. High salinity produced poor soil and failed crops. Receding water levels were blamed on upstream droughts. The area was declared off limits: international flights were rerouted or rescheduled to fly over only during night hours. For 25 years this environmental disaster was a closely guarded state secret.

When Radek Skrivanek first began photographing the Aral Sea, it was half its original size and volume. Landlocked ports lay abandoned up to 80 miles from the current waterís edge. He found deserted fleets, fish dead from high salinity, no migrating birds, longer summers and winters and extreme temperatures that threaten the very crops that caused the original problem. The receding seaís residual salt becomes airborne; this, along with fertilizers and defoliants, poses serious health risks to the population.

Despite all this, it is still home to many. After 200 years of Russian colonialism and little opportunity elsewhere, people are learning to live with the legacy of the system that bankrupted their countryís economy and destroyed their environment.  

Radek Skrivanek

Born in the Czech Republic, Radek Skrivanek left his homeland several years before the Communist regimeís fall and lived as a refugee in Austria before arriving in the United States in 1989.

His work has been nationally exhibited and is included in the collections of the Portland Art Museum, OR, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX. His publications include Lenswork, OnEarth, PHOTO, Lens Culture and the National Resources Defense Council. Skrivanek teaches at the San Francisco Art Institute.  

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