cover of episode When Water Turns to Sand

When Water Turns to Sand

2024/9/22
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Aisulu
A
Ayesha Roscoe
37年后被宣告无罪的本杰明·斯宾塞,揭示了美国司法系统中的严重错误定罪问题。
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Bahijan Habibulayef
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Rahat Krumenbaev
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Valerie Kipnis
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Yusup Kamalov
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Ayesha Roscoe: 本节目关注中亚地区日益严重的水资源短缺问题,并以咸海的消失为例,说明了水资源危机带来的严重后果。咸海曾经是世界上最大的湖泊之一,为该地区提供了重要的生命支持,但由于苏联时期为了发展农业而大量引水,导致咸海几乎消失,联合国环境规划署称其为20世纪最令人震惊的灾难之一。 Valerie Kipnis: 咸海由于水位下降已经分裂成两个部分:北咸海和南咸海。莫伊纳克曾经是一个繁华的港口城市,如今却因为咸海的干涸而成为一个“灾难旅游景点”,废弃的工厂和船只,以及风中吹拂的毒尘,展现了缺水的末日景象。联合国秘书长将咸海的消失视为人为造成的自然灾害的象征。Yusup Kamalov见证了咸海的干涸过程,并致力于解决乌兹别克斯坦的水资源问题。南咸海的水域狭小,盐度极高,湖床布满粘土和卤虫幼虫。 Rahat Krumenbaev: 沙俄时期就认为将水用于咸海是浪费,应该用于经济发展,这导致了对河流的过度开发。 Khalif: 气候变化和土地盐碱化使得棉花种植越来越困难,这使得农民的生计受到严重威胁。 Bahijan Habibulayef: 他致力于在沙漠中种植耐旱植物,并教授农民节水种植技术,他致力于利用现有资源,例如阿姆河的废水,来发展水产养殖和温室种植,以适应未来的环境变化。尽管面临挑战,但情况正在好转,人们正在努力适应新的环境。 Aisulu: 她对家乡既有深厚的感情,又对其未来感到担忧,许多乌兹别克斯坦人都梦想去国外生活,她的父亲讲述了阿姆河曾经的景象,如今的阿姆河已经变得很小了,阿姆河的改变让她感到悲伤。 Yusup Kamalov: 我亲眼目睹了咸海的消亡,这让我感到非常痛心。几十年来,我一直在努力寻找解决乌兹别克斯坦水资源问题的办法。苏联时期为了发展棉花产业,大规模修建灌溉渠,导致阿姆河几乎不再流入咸海。乌兹别克斯坦的灌溉渠道效率低下,导致大量水资源浪费。由于盐碱化严重,当地农民需要先用大量水冲洗土壤才能种植作物。乌兹别克斯坦政府与私营棉花公司关系密切,农民被迫以低价出售棉花,导致其利益受损。乌兹别克斯坦的农业体系仍然停留在苏联时代,阻碍了水资源的有效利用。尽管政府正在努力改善灌溉系统和培训农民,但我仍然担心,如果乌兹别克斯坦政府不放弃对棉花的依赖,这些努力将是徒劳的。改变的责任落在了农民身上,他们拥有最少的权力和资源,却承受着最大的损失。

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The Aral Sea, once one of the world's largest lakes, has shrunk to about 10% of its original size. This ecological disaster, described by the UN as one of the most staggering of the 20th century, is primarily due to Soviet irrigation projects diverting water from the two main rivers feeding the sea.
  • The Aral Sea has shrunk to about 10% of its original size.
  • The disaster is primarily attributed to Soviet irrigation projects.

Shownotes Transcript

In Central Asia, the world's youngest desert occupies a basin that once held a vast saline lake. The Aral Sea. Up until the 1960s, the sea spanned more than 26 thousand square miles across two countries. It supported thriving fishing communities along its shores. But then, in the name of progress and development, much of the river water that fed the sea was diverted for agriculture. Now the Aral Sea has all but disappeared, shrunk to about tenth of its original size. The UN Environment Programme has called the Aral Sea's destruction quote "one of the most staggering disasters of the 20th century." On this episode of The Sunday Story, Above The Fray Fellow Valerie Kipnis takes us to the Aral Sea to try to understand what went wrong and whether anything can be done to save the little water that's left.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices)NPR Privacy Policy)