Astana: Once stretching across the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia, the Aral Sea was the world's fourth-largest lake - a vast inland body of water that supported major fisheries, local communities, and a unique ecosystem. Today, the Aral Sea has shrunk to less than a tenth of its former size, leaving behind rusting ships, abandoned ports, and a toxic, salt-covered desert. The UN Development Programme has defined the situation in the Aral Sea as 'the most staggering disaster of the twentieth century.' It once provided roughly one-sixth of all fish consumed in the Soviet Union, but gradually fragmented into isolated water bodies. Its exposed seabed has turned into the Aralkum Desert, often described as the world's youngest desert. The crisis began in the 1960s, when Soviet planners diverted the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers to irrigate cotton fields across the region. Without those rivers, the sea's natural evaporation was no longer offset, and water levels began a steady decline.

According to Anadolu Agency, amid this long-running environmental crisis, Central Asian leaders gathered last week in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, to discuss how to manage the region's shared water resources and prevent further damage. While much of the Aral Sea has been lost, its northern portion in Kazakhstan has seen a partial recovery. The North Aral Sea, separated from the southern basin by the Kokaral Dam, completed in 2005 with World Bank support, has experienced rising water levels and a return of fish stocks. Zauresh Alimbetova, president of the Public Association Aral Oasis and a member of the Board of the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia, told Anadolu that the partial restoration of the North Aral Sea has significantly improved socio-economic conditions. 'New jobs were created, and people began returning to their traditional fishing areas after many had previously left,' Alimbetova said. 'This brought hope for the future.'

Efforts to plant saxaul trees across the exposed seabed have also helped stabilize soil and reduce toxic dust storms that carry salt and agricultural chemicals from the Aral Sea's now-exposed lakebed. A joint project between Kazakhstan and the World Bank to raise the Kokaral Dam by two meters (6.5 feet) is expected to increase the North Aral Sea's volume from 27 to 34 cubic kilometers (6.4 to 8.1 cubic miles) within four to five years. 'For us, as residents of the region, the most important thing is the development of fisheries and the reduction of unemployment, so people can continue living in their home regions,' Alimbetova said, noting that many fishing families were forced to leave for employment after the collapse of the Soviet Union. 'We would very much like all of this not to lose its meaning, so that people do not lose hope again,' Alimbetova added. The IFAS told Anadolu that prospects for further restoration are positive, provided that 'comprehensive water resource management efforts and the implemen tation of national and international programs continue.'

The latest summit of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS), attended by the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, focused on managing water use and addressing environmental risks across the basin. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev warned that while progress has been made in restoring parts of the ecosystem, environmental risks are outpacing mitigation efforts. 'Water consumption is steadily increasing. Over 80% of all water resources are used in agriculture, while losses in irrigation systems remain unacceptably high. Under these circumstances, coordinated and long-term solutions are required,' Tokayev said. He called for water issues to be considered as a common, pressing issue for Central Asian countries and asked his counterparts to consider his 2025 proposal for establishing a regional convention for water management.

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized the need for deeper cooperation on water, energy, climate adaptation, and desertification, as Uzbekistan prepares to assume the organization's chairmanship. Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov stressed the importance of glacier conservation, while Turkmen and Tajik leaders called for stronger regional coordination and institutional reform. At the end of the summit, the five countries signed several documents, including a joint statement and a declaration establishing March 26 as the International Day of the Aral Sea and its feeder rivers.

The Aral Sea is no longer an isolated case. Across the globe, lakes are shrinking, degrading, or disappearing under the combined pressures of climate change, pollution, and overuse. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), surface water bodies are declining in hundreds of basins worldwide, affecting tens of millions of people. In Iran, Lake Urmia has shrunk to around 10% of its former size. Lake Chad in Central Africa and the Great Salt Lake in the United States have also seen dramatic declines linked to water diversion and rising demand. Lakes provide 90% of the world's surface fresh water and, together with the rivers that feed them, support the livelihoods of an estimated 60 million people. Experts say over-abstraction - diverting water faster than it can be replenished - remains one of the most significant drivers of lake decline, with the Aral Sea widely seen as its most striking example.

At the same time, climate change is intensifying evaporation and altering rainfall patterns, further destabilizing already fragile water systems. Pollution from sources like cities, farms, and factories is also damaging water quality. Despite the scale of the crisis, UNEP says solutions exist, including better water management, coordinated basin-level policies, and stronger monitoring systems to prevent environmental collapse before it reaches critical levels. 'The good news is that we have the knowledge and the technology to turn this situation around,' said Dianna Kopansky of UNEP's freshwater ecosystems program in 2025. 'What we really need is the will to start treating all our lakes like the precious resources they are.'