THE Aral Sea is disappearing even faster than previously thought. A new study of the southern part of the sea has slashed its life expectancy by decades.
Since the 1960s, the sea has been drying up as a result of poor management of irrigation channels that steal water from rivers feeding it. Once the area of Ireland, it is now a quarter that size and broken into two fragments – the North Aral Sea and South Aral Sea (see Map). Because of the costs involved, only the smaller North Aral has been earmarked for rescue (New Scientist, 4 January, p…
