Die Aralsee-Katastrophe. Ein Nachruf auf das multilaterale Krisenmanagement

In: Osteuropa, Band 57, Heft 8-9, S. 497-510

Abstract

The Aral Sea is the scene of one of the greatest manmade environmental disasters. In just 50 years, it lost nine-tenths of its water. In a territory larger than Germany, 4 million people suffer from salt storms with pesticide residue. The child mortality rate is one of the highest in the world. Typhus, hepatitis & cancer are disproportionately frequent. To this come serious socioeconomic problems. All the rescue attempts of the past 15 years have failed. Multilateral crisis management has collapsed. The states on the Amu Darya & Syr Darya, which feed the Aral Sea, continue to draw enormous amounts of water for agriculture contrary to all self-imposed obligations. Adapted from the source document.