Turkmenistan

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Turkmenistan

• An Environmental Overview
• By Matt Sherman
• Spring Semester UW Eau Claire
• Geography 308 Eastern European and Russian
  Geography

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Turkmenistan Overview

• Left the USSR in 1991
• Population of 4,863,169 (July 2004 est.) which
  ranks 115th in the world.
  
• Bordering Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran,
  Kazakhstan, and the Caspian Sea
  
• Sub-tropical climate
• Niyazov Dictatorship still in place

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Turkmenistan and Environmental Problems

• Irrigation problems
• The soil contamination from sediments river
  water
  
• Decline in the water level of the Amu Darya
• The disappearance of the Aral Sea

Karakum River
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Irrigation Problems

• Amu Darya (River)
• Main source of water for drinking, agriculture,
  and supply to the Karakum (Garagum in
  Turkmenistan) Canal and the Aral sea
  
• Accounts for 90 of water used in country
• Contamination of surface
• water with agricultural
• chemicals and pesticides
• is a serious problem

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Past Solutions

• The Karakum Canal
• Provides water to the more areas along southern
  Turkmenistan
  
• Criticized because of the amount of water
  diverted from the shrinking Aral Sea
  
• With out the Karakum Canal there would be little
  to no agriculture in the Southern parts of
  Turkmenistan

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Current Solutions

• Construction of a new lake in the middle of the
  Karakum Desert
  
• Cost is about 4.5 billion US dollars
• Estimated to be complete in 20 years

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Possible Negatives

• The lake could pollute massive amounts of land
  with salt.
  
• Most of the water would evaporate from an
  open-air lake in the type of climate the Karakum
  desert has.
  
• Could take even more water away from the Amu
  Darya and Aral Sea.

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Problems with the Soil

• The soil used for agriculture is full of
  chemicals and pesticides
  
• The lack of adequate soil causes the over use of
  the main growing and grazing lands
  
• The increasing salinity levels are making it
  harder and harder to produce agriculture
  

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Categories of Soils by Salinity Levels

• As salinity levels increase, plants extract water
  less easily from soil. High soil salinity can
  also cause nutrient imbalances and cause the
  process of desertification to speed up.

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Water Levels Falling in the Amu Darya

• From 1960-1996 the volume of water has dropped
  80
  
• The lower reaches of the river once contained a
  large delta that supported extensive vegetation,
  but most of the delta has dried up due to reduced
  water flow.
• Major reason is the Karakum Canal
• Amu Darya also supports Tajikistan, Afghanistan,
  Uzbekistan and the Aral Sea

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Amu Darya River Basin
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River Basin Problems

• Overuse of the river
• Any and all chemicals used in area of river basin
  make it to the river and pollute the water

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The Disappearance of the Aral Sea

• Was once the 4th largest sea in the World
• Largest contributor to the disappearance is the
  over use of the Amu Darya River
  

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Consequences of Disappearing Aral Sea

• Climatic consequences
• Mesoclimatic changes (increase of
  continentality)
  
• Increase of salt and dust storms
• Shortening of the vegetation period
• Health consequences
• Increase of serious diseases( e.g. cholera,
  typhus, gastritis, blood cancer)
  
• Increase of respiratory system diseases (asthma,
  bronchitis)
  
• Birth defects and high infant mortality
• Ecological / economic consequences
• Degeneration of the delta ecosystems
• Total collapse of the fishing industry
  (originally 44,000 t/a)
  
• Decrease of productivity of agricultural fields

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Possible Solutions

• Kazakhstan government, along with the World Bank,
  began a massive restoration project for the Aral
  Sea.
  
• The southern Aral Sea has been considered beyond
  saving, and the restoration effort will instead
  focus on the much smaller, but less polluted and
  saline, northern sea

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Conclusion

• Turkmenistan is helping destroy the Aral Sea but
  without the use of the Amu Darya River
  Turkmenistan would be destroyed.
  
• The soil is going through the process of
  desertification and becoming less and less
  useful.
  
• The Amu Darya River is losing water because of
  the Karakum Canal and other tributaries.
  
• Production of a giant artificial lake being
  created in Karakum desert will help the country's
  growing water needs but may also cause more
  problems than it solves.

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