Did the Desire for Cotton Self-Sufficiency Lead to the Aral Sea Environmental Disaster? : A Case Study on Trade and the Environment
The desiccation of the Aral Sea was one of the greatest environmental disasters of the latter part of the twentieth century. In 1960, it was the fourth largest lake in the world. However, since 1965, the sea has lost seventy five percent of its vol...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/433771484052748191/Did-the-desire-for-cotton-self-sufficiency-lead-to-the-Aral-sea-environmental-disaster-a-case-study-on-trade-and-the-environment http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25939 |
| Summary: | The desiccation of the Aral Sea was one
of the greatest environmental disasters of the latter part
of the twentieth century. In 1960, it was the fourth largest
lake in the world. However, since 1965, the sea has lost
seventy five percent of its volume and the coastline has
advanced hundred kilometers. The sea is now divided into two
sections and if desiccation continues, it will eventually
devolve into a string of isolated salt lakes. The desire of
the former Soviet Union for self-sufficiency in cotton led
to massive expansion of cotton production in Central Asia,
mostly in Uzbekistan, and to the use of irrigated water from
rivers that normally fed the Aral Sea. Could the
environmental disaster have been avoided if the former
Soviet Union had relied more on imported cotton and not
diverted these rivers? Can we conclude that if the cost of
the irrigated water had been properly considered, Uzbekistan
did not have a comparative advantage in cotton production,
and the Soviet Union should have imported the cotton? Or are
other explanations more important in explaining the
environmental disaster?. The authors consider these
questions in this case study, but begin with an elaboration
of the environmental problems. |
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