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Moreover, the shrinking Sea has also affected the continental climate of Central Asia. Without the moderating influence of a large body of water, the seasons have become more extreme. Already hot summers have become hotter, dryer and longer; and winters, shorter, more bitter and dry.
"Among all of these serious problems", says the Ambassador, "the most serious is the health problem". Polluted drinking water has had dire effects on the health of local people. Women and children have experienced frightening levels of maternal and infant mortality rates. And diseases, malnutrition and poverty plague the region.
Already by the 1970s, the water crisis had become acute, and the Soviet authorities worked to develop several typically monumental plans to relieve the shortages. One - dubbed the "Sibaral" - was to involve the transfer of waters from Siberian rivers to the Aral Sea. But after numerous drafts over a number of years, these plans were finally scrapped. The cancellation caused deep disappointment among Central Asians, intensifying their sense of abandonment and making the Aral Sea a potent symbol of that loss.
When the Central Asian Republics underwent economic transitions from centrally planned to market economies, they were ill-equipped to deal with the environmental problem in the Aral zone. Besides lack of funds, the republics had no history of diplomacy to draw upon to address their common problems.
"Every transition has a lot of problems", comments Ambassador Ataeva. "Our concern [has been] to keep development sustainable without giving difficulties to the population."
While most of the affected republics did begin to replace cotton with grain crops, their water needs have not lessened. Rather, they have begun to make increasing demands on the region's water supplies in order to promote their own agricultural and industrial development. In the early years of independence, as a result, "less water was available than in previous years", observes Mr. Malik.
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Number 1 1999
