Climate change is fueling the disappearance of the Aral Sea. It’s taking residents’ livelihoods, too

MUYNAK, Uzbekistan — Toxic dust storms, anti-government protests, the fall of the Soviet Union — for generations, none of it has deterred Nafisa Bayniyazova and her family from making a living growing melons, pumpkins and tomatoes on farms around the Aral Sea. “Without water, there’s no life.” A house decimated by sandstorms sits in the destroyed village on the edge of the dried-up Aral Sea, near Tastubek, Kazakhstan, Monday, July 3, 2023. Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print National governments, international aid organizations and local groups have tried — with varying degrees of effort and success —to save the sea. Serzhan Seitbenbetov, left, and Omirserik Ibragimov fish in a part of the Aral Sea with water, far away from their village Tastubek, outside Aralsk, Kazakhstan, Sunday, July 1, 2023. Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print But it couldn’t replicate life before the water started drying up, said Sarah Cameron, an associate professor at the University of Maryland who’s writing a book about the Aral.