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...

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Main Authors:	Tarr, David, Trushin, Eskender
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:	TRADE TARIFF INDUSTRY IMPORT EXPORT FINANCE MARKET GROWTH CUSTOMS DATA DEVELOPMENT
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

id	okr-10986-25939
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-259392021-04-23T14:04:32Z Did the Desire for Cotton Self-Sufficiency Lead to the Aral Sea Environmental Disaster? : A Case Study on Trade and the Environment Tarr, David Trushin, Eskender TRADE TARIFF INDUSTRY IMPORT EXPORT FINANCE MARKET GROWTH CUSTOMS DATA DEVELOPMENT DATA 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. 2017-01-25T21:25:06Z 2017-01-25T21:25:06Z 2004 Working Paper 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 English en_US CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Working Paper Europe and Central Asia Kazakhstan Uzbekistan
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English en_US
topic	TRADE TARIFF INDUSTRY IMPORT EXPORT FINANCE MARKET GROWTH CUSTOMS DATA DEVELOPMENT DATA
spellingShingle	TRADE TARIFF INDUSTRY IMPORT EXPORT FINANCE MARKET GROWTH CUSTOMS DATA DEVELOPMENT DATA Tarr, David Trushin, Eskender Did the Desire for Cotton Self-Sufficiency Lead to the Aral Sea Environmental Disaster? : A Case Study on Trade and the Environment
geographic_facet	Europe and Central Asia Kazakhstan Uzbekistan
description	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.
format	Working Paper
author	Tarr, David Trushin, Eskender
author_facet	Tarr, David Trushin, Eskender
author_sort	Tarr, David
title	Did the Desire for Cotton Self-Sufficiency Lead to the Aral Sea Environmental Disaster? : A Case Study on Trade and the Environment
title_short	Did the Desire for Cotton Self-Sufficiency Lead to the Aral Sea Environmental Disaster? : A Case Study on Trade and the Environment
title_full	Did the Desire for Cotton Self-Sufficiency Lead to the Aral Sea Environmental Disaster? : A Case Study on Trade and the Environment
title_fullStr	Did the Desire for Cotton Self-Sufficiency Lead to the Aral Sea Environmental Disaster? : A Case Study on Trade and the Environment
title_full_unstemmed	Did the Desire for Cotton Self-Sufficiency Lead to the Aral Sea Environmental Disaster? : A Case Study on Trade and the Environment
title_sort	did the desire for cotton self-sufficiency lead to the aral sea environmental disaster? : a case study on trade and the environment
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2017
url	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
_version_	1764460493417742336

Did the Desire for Cotton Self-Sufficiency Lead to the Aral Sea Environmental Disaster? : A Case Study on Trade and the Environment

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