Why is Rahman missing

3 months

of school?

Use the clues to answer the

question.

Where does Rahman

live?

Uzbekistan

China

India

Russia

Iran

Why is Rahman

missing 3 months of

school?

Sort your cards into these categories:

About Rahman

Uzbek Government

Global connections

Other info

Case Study: The Aral Sea

The Aral Sea Crisis

Source: http://www.reec.nsw.edu.au/geo/water/imagewat/wa2cc.jpg

The Aral Sea Crisis

Source: http://www.reec.nsw.edu.au/geo/water/imagewat/wa2cc.jpg

The Aral Sea Crisis

Source: http://www.columbia.edu/~tmt2120/aral_sea_2006.jpg

The Aral Sea Crisis

Source: http://geochristian.com/2009/05/

The Aral Sea Crisis

How do you think this happened?

Brainstorm three possible reasons with your group

using your live document.

The Aral Sea Crisis

This has happened because in the early 1960s, the two rivers that channelled water to the Aral Sea were diverted to irrigate areas of the surrounding desert to grow rice, melons, cereals and cotton.

Why do you think the shorelines of the Aral Sea have receded 60-80 km?

The Aral Sea Crisis

1. What two main rivers channel into the Aral Sea?

2. What two countries does the Aral Sea border?

3. Why was the water from the main two rivers diverted?

4. What government was responsible for diverting the flow of the two main rivers?

Focus Questions

The Aral Sea Crisis

5. What percentage of its original size is the Aral Sea now?6. Is it likely that the Aral Sea will ever return to its original size?7. What are some of the consequences of this crisis? (List at least four.)8. What are some possible environmental solutions?

Focus Questions

Answers to the Focus Questions 1. The Amu and the Syr River 2. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan 3. To irrigate areas of the surrounding dessert to grow rice, melons, cereals

and cotton. 4. The Soviet Union 5. 10% 6. No 7. Loss of jobs (ie fishing industry), Health problems for the locals, Salinity and

environmental problems – ecosystem virtually destroyed, lack of biodiversity (ie 20 native species of fish are now extinct). Climate affected. Dust storms.

8. Improving the quality of irrigation canals, installing desalination plants, charging farmers to use the water from the rivers, using alternative cotton species that require less water, using fewer chemicals on the cotton, moving farming away from cotton, installing dams to fill the Aral Sea, redirecting water from the Volga, Ob and Irtysh Rivers to restore the Aral Sea to its former size in 20–30 years at a cost of US$30–50 billion, pumping sea water into the Aral Sea from the Caspian Sea via a pipeline, and diluting it with fresh water from local catchment areas