Aral Sea Desiccation (1960s-present)

The Aral Sea Desiccation ranks as the worst man-made ecological collapse in history, having lost 90% of its volume since the 1960s. Soviet-era irrigation projects diverted the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers, shrinking the sea from 68,000 km² to just 10% of its original size and exposing over 54,000 km² of toxic salt flats. These flats now release some 75 million tonnes of dust annually, laced with pesticides and heavy metals, causing respiratory disease rates in the region that are 30% higher than the national average. Irrigated cotton yields have plummeted by 40% since 1990, failing even to match the productivity loss caused by the more publicised Amazon Rainforest Fires of 2019.