Press
Release No.2002-85
UNESCO LAUNCHES
NEW ARAL SEA BASIN INITIATIVE
Dushanbe, Tajikistan, October 31
- UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura will announce
tomorrow a new initiative to study the Aral Sea Basin under the
auspices of the World Water Assessment Programme, which brings
together 23 United Nations agencies through a secretariat hosted
by UNESCO.
Mr Matsuura will make the announcement
during an international seminar on November 1st in Dushanbe on
freshwater resource management, which will gather high-level policy
makers, scientists and representatives of UN agencies from the
six countries sharing the basin: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. The new study will build
upon previous investigations conducted by UN agencies, notably
a special UNESCO report analyzing the risks of conflict and potential
for cooperation among the basin states, which will be released
in the beginning of 2003, designated the International Year on
Freshwater.
"I would like to offer my
sincere thanks to the Government of Tajikistan for hosting this
event and for taking the initiative to designate 2003 as the International
Year of Freshwater," says Mr Matsuura. The UN has selected
UNESCO as a lead agency in coordinating water-related activities
around the world throughout the year.
The Aral Sea has become a synonym
for ecological disaster, with its dramatic pictures of rusty boats
lying in the sands of what used to be the fourth largest lake
on earth. During the Soviet era in the 1960s, central authorities
decided to divert unprecedented amounts of water from two rivers
feeding the Aral, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, to irrigate
huge new cotton plantations, primarily in Kazakhstan. By planting
the single crop of cotton, they exhausted both freshwater supplies
and the soil. But instead of altering the policy, farmers were
encouraged to use more water and dangerous amounts of pesticides
and fertilizer.
Today, the Aral is about half its
original size. The two main fishing ports are dry, stranded ten
kilometers from the remaining water, which used to be brackish
but is now extremely polluted and four times more saline. The
lack of water has even upset the microclimate. Today, violent
sandstorms regularly rip through the basin, carrying away an estimated
150,000 tons of salt and sand contaminated with pesticide residues
each year.
Fishing and navigation have completely
disappeared and agricultural yields have plummeted. The population
also suffers from serious health problems primarily caused by
toxic drinking and irrigation water.
UNESCO has been working with the
concerned countries to study and improve conditions since 1992,
through a network of about 20 research projects involving more
than 140 scientists from the region. In 1998, UNESCO created the
Scientific Advisory Board for Aral Sea Basin Problems to explore
options for the future. There have been longstanding plans to
divert other rivers in order to restore the Aral Sea. However,
such schemes could cause further
ecological damage. UNESCO has therefore
focused on helping the national governments to manage the basin
and coordinate their activities jointly in such key areas as agriculture
and hydroelectricity in order to reinforce the fragile health
of the entire basin.
The International Year on Freshwater
will serve as a platform to encourage this kind of work. The UN
resolution proclaiming the year was initiated by the Government
of Tajikistan and supported by 148 other countries. It encourages
governments, the UN system and all other non-governmental and
corporate actors to increase awareness of the importance of sustainable
freshwater use, management and preservation. It also calls upon
them to make voluntary contributions and lend other forms of support
to the year.
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Contact:
In Paris
Amy Otchet
Bureau of Public Information, Editorial Section
Telephone: +33 (0) 1 45 68 17 05
Email: a.otchet@unesco.org
In Dushanbe
Peter Coles
Bureau of Public Information, Editorial Section
Telephone: +33 6 14 69 54 98
Email: p.coles@unesco.org
