アラル海はかつて世界で4番目に広かった湖だが、2つの池くらいの大きさにまで縮小してしまった。
アメリカ航空宇宙局（NASA）は9月1日、2000年から現在に至るまで、アラル海が縮小する様子のタイムラプス動画を公開した。湖は、2つの離れた、かなり小さな水塊になった。小アラル海と大アラル海だ。
湖は1960年代以降、大幅に縮小している。旧ソ連では、ウズベキスタンとトルクメニスタンに農地を開拓するために、湖に流れていたアムダリア川、シルダリヤ川の流れを変えた。
NASAが説明する通り、その後遺症は、まさに壊滅的としか言いようがない。
アラル海が干上がるにつれて、湖に頼っていた漁業と地域社会は崩壊した。塩分濃度が上昇した水は、肥料と農薬で汚染された。農薬で汚染された、むき出しの湖底から風で飛ばされる土は、公衆衛生上危険となった。塩分を含んだ土が湖底から吹き飛ばされ畑に積もり、土壌を悪化させたからだ。耕作地は、非常に大量の川の水で洗い流さなければならなかった。気候の緩和効果をもたらす巨大な水源がなくなったために、冬は一層寒く、夏は一層暑く乾燥するようになった。
アルジャジーラは7月、小アラル海を元の状態に戻す取り組みを紹介している。世界銀行から資金提供を受けた、2005年から始まった「コカラルダム・プロジェクト」によって湖に15種類の魚が戻ってきた。ダム・プロジェクトの第2段階では、小アラル海の回復に取り組む予定だ。
ハフポストUS版より翻訳・加筆しました。
▼画像集が開きます
アラル海
KAZAKHSTAN/(01 of15)
Children run past ruined ships abandoned in sand that once formed the bed of the Aral Sea near the village of Zhalanash, in southwestern Kazakhstan in this April 17, 2005 file photograph. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Central Asian states to work together to tackle the disastrous effects of the shrinking Aral Sea Sunday after local people urged the United Nations to resolve a regional dispute. Picture taken April 17, 2005. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov/Files (KAZAKHSTAN - Tags: DISASTER ENVIRONMENT) (credit:Shamil Zhumatov / Reuters)
KAZAKHSTAN-ARALSEA/(02 of15)
A cow takes shade in the shadow of a derelict boat in the former Aral Sea port of Aralsk June 18, 2008. The Aral Sea has shrunk by 70 percent since 1960 when Soviet planners started siphoning off water from its feeder rivers to faraway farming projects, bringing starvation and misery to traditional fishing communities, but a seven-year project led by the World Bank has helped replenish the smaller northern part of the Aral Sea by trapping water behind a dike -- filling local people with a new sense of optimism and purpose. Picture taken June 18, 2008. To match feature KAZAKHSTAN-ARALSEA/ REUTERS/Aziz Mamirov (KAZAKHSTAN) (credit:Stringer Russia / Reuters)
KAZAKHSTAN(03 of15)
- PHOTO TAKEN 17AVR05 - Kazakh fishermen have a break after fishing near village of Karateren, southwestern Kazakhstan April 16, 2005. Once the world\'s fourth largest lake, the Aral has shrunk so much that it has now split into two separate bodies of water. [The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been running an Aral Sea Programme since 1995, focusing mainly on water resources management, small business development, humanitarian assistance and a social and health programme as the ecological disaster of the dying sea has brought about a host of associated health problems. Picture taken on April 17, 2005.] (credit:Shamil Zhumatov / Reuters)
KAZAKHSTAN(04 of15)
Kazakh villagers collect metal parts of ruined ships lying in sand that once formed the bed of the Aral Sea near the village of Zhalanash, southwestern Kazakhstan April 17, 2005. Once the world\'s fourth largest lake, the Aral has shrunk so much that it has now split into two separate bodies of water. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been running an Aral Sea Programme since 1995, focusing mainly on water resources management, small business development, humanitarian assistance and a social and health programme as the ecological disaster of the dying sea has brought about a host of associated health problems. (credit:Shamil Zhumatov / Reuters)
KAZAKHSTAN(05 of15)
- PHOTO TAKEN 16APR05 - A Kazakh man walks past a boat lying in sand that once formed the bed of the Aral Sea, near the village of Karateren, southwestern Kazakhstan April 16, 2005. Once the world\'s fourth largest lake, the Aral has shrunk so much that it has now split into two separate bodies of water. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been running an Aral Sea Programme since 1995, focusing mainly on water resources management, small business development, humanitarian assistance and a social and health programme as the ecological disaster of the dying sea has brought about a host of associated health problems. (credit:Shamil Zhumatov / Reuters)
KAZAKHSTAN(06 of15)
- PHOTO TAKEN 17APR05 - A ruined ship lies in sand that once formed the bed of the Aral Sea near the village of Zhalanash, southwestern Kazakhstan April 17, 2005. Once the world\'s fourth largest lake, the Aral has shrunk so much that it has now split into two separate bodies of water. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been running an Aral Sea Programme since 1995, focusing mainly on water resources management, small business development, humanitarian assistance and a social and health programme as the ecological disaster of the dying sea has brought about a host of associated health problems. (credit:Shamil Zhumatov / Reuters)
APTOPIX Uzbekistan UN(07 of15)
A herdsman passes a ship stranded near Muynak, a town on the dried up Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited the sea\'s remains as part of a trip through former Soviet Central Asia. Sunday, April 4, 2010. Ban says the drying up of the Aral Sea is one of the planet\'s most shocking disasters and is calling on Central Asian leaders to step up cooperation in solving the environmental problems.(AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Uzbekistan UN(08 of15)
Camels pass a ship cemetery next to Muynak, a town near the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited the sea\'s remains as part of a trip through former Soviet Central Asia. Sunday, April 4, 2010. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the drying up of the Aral Sea is one of the planet\'s most shocking disasters and is calling on Central Asian leaders to step up cooperation in solving the environmental problems.(AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Uzbekistan UN(09 of15)
An aerial view from a helicopter of the ship graveyard near Muynak over the dried up Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited the sea\'s remains as part of a trip through former Soviet Central Asia. Sunday, April 4, 2010. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the drying up of the Aral Sea is one of the planet\'s most shocking disasters and is calling on Central Asian leaders to step up cooperation in solving the environmental problems. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Uzbekistan UN(10 of15)
An aerial view from a helicopter of the ship graveyard near Muynak over the dried up Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited the sea\'s remains as part of a trip through former Soviet Central Asia. Sunday, April 4, 2010. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the drying up of the Aral Sea is one of the planet\'s most shocking disasters and is calling on Central Asian leaders to step up cooperation in solving the environmental problems. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Uzbekistan UN(11 of15)
A view from a helicopter over Muynak, a town, left, near the dried up Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited the sea\'s remains as part of a trip through former Soviet Central Asia. Sunday, April 4, 2010. Ban says the drying up of the Aral Sea is one of the planet\'s most shocking disasters and is calling on Central Asian leaders to step up cooperation in solving the environmental problems.(AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Threatened Ecosystems(12 of15)
** ADVANCE FOR USE MONDAY, DEC. 6, 2010 AND THEREAFTER ** FILE - In this May 30, 2009 file photo photo, camels walk on the dry seabed some 100 kilometers outside of Aralsk, Kazakhstan. The once-vast Aral Sea between the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan shrank by about 90 percent due to diversions of water, leaving behind a salty wasteland and abandoned fishing boats, and ruining the local economy. Now scientists are figuring out how to catalog and map the world\'s most threatened ecosystems, just like their familiar list of endangered species. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev, File) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Central Asia Reappearing Sea(13 of15)
This May 29, 2009 photo shows a Kazakh boy playing near the old port of Aralsk in Kazakhstan. Rusting boats and barges stand marooned in the sand near the port, reminders of the city\'s vibrant fishing past. Idle loading cranes loom over a sludge-laden field strewn with garbage. For decades, Soviet authorities and their successors diverted the rivers that fed the landlocked Aral Sea to irrigate vast cotton fields. As a result, the sea, once the size of Ireland, shrank into a series of isolated stretches of water covering just 10 percent of its previous expanse. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Central Asia Reappearing Sea(14 of15)
This May 29, 2009 photo shows Kazakh school children playing around a grounded ship at the old sea port in Aralsk, Kazakhstan. Rusting boats and barges stand marooned in the sand near the port, reminders of the city\'s vibrant fishing past. For decades, Soviet authorities and their successors diverted the rivers that fed the landlocked Aral Sea to irrigate vast cotton fields. As a result, the sea, once the size of Ireland, shrank into a series of isolated stretches of water covering just 10 percent of its previous expanse. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
UZBEKISTAN-ARAL SEA-SHRINK(15 of15)
TASHKENT, Dec. 11, 2015-- Photo taken on Dec. 7, 2015 shows an abandoned ship at Moynak in the Aral Sea, Uzbekistan. Once the world\'s fourth largest lake, the Aral Sea lies between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, fed mainly by Amu Darya and Syr Darya. The sea has shrunk more than 90 percent as the rivers that feed it were largely diverted by the former Soviet Union irrigation projects to boost cotton production in the arid region. (Xinhua/Sadat via Getty Images) (credit:Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images)
（スライドショーが見られない方はこちらへ）