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Because we tend to make a close association between farming and the land, agriculture is not widely recognized for its destructive impacts to the environment and health. The shape of agricultural production is very place specific in many ways. The Soviets collectivized farms, farmers and machinery, deliberately destroying the preexisting peasant culture. The rural small farmer worldwide has been dramatically impacted by neocolonialism and globalization, with a massive out migration to cities resulting.

This chapter briefly discusses an often overlooked impact of the loss of the Aral Sea, the social costs to the population in the surrounding areas. While much focus has been on the shrinkage of the Aral in the past half century, the story is much older and includes a diversity of people, ecosystems, and productive ways of living in a harsh climate. This chapter is an overview of how ecological parameters have influenced life for the local population in Karakalpakstan. The research is based on a short site visit and tests ideas for a longer project that will look at who is migrating for employment, based on what criteria, and the dynamics of that choice. Seminal writings about human activity around the Aral when it was full, along with recent reports on livelihoods, health, and migration patterns are reviewed. The chapter supports the idea that migration can be an adaptation to climate. Migration is overall a negative social sustainability indicator for Karakalpakstan.

In this chapter, we examine the consequences of the substantial diversion of water to irrigation in the Aral Sea region, the principle cause of the Aral Sea disaster. The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship of the two rivers feeding Uzbekistan to the water inflow into the Aral Sea and to economic productivity in agriculture. We find that because water consumption exceeds water formation, the prognosis for future growth in agricultural output is at risk. Uzbekistan and its neighbors need to address the upstream and downstream rights to water access for the Syr and Amu rivers. The solutions to our immediate problems can be found inside Uzbekistan. Improving water efficiency and water conservation is a necessary, economical option compared to other proposals.

Map 1. Map of Uzbekistan and Surrounding Area

“Trouble in the Land of Oz.” That is what started it all.

From the lead editor's nearly forty years of work on environmental disaster, there is a basic rule of thumb that has never disappointed (Edelstein, 2000, 2004). No matter how severe the direct impacts of a disaster are, at least half the stress comes from the secondary psychosocial impacts involved in dealing with the aftermath. In the case of the Aral Sea, most of the stress is back loaded. The population of Karkalpakstan, particularly those living by and working on the sea, was literally left high and dry, suffering substantial psychosocial and health impacts.¹