Lesson 3 ships in the desert.docx

1、Lesson 3 ships in the desertAral SeaLandlocked Ship, Aral Sea, KazakhstanThe Aral Sea is one of less than 20 ancient lakes in the world, and is estimated to be more than 5 million years old. To many, the Aral Sea has become synonymous with environmental catastrophe. In the Soviet Union era massive a

2、mounts of water were diverted for irrigation of cotton and the lake began to shrink dramatically. At the same time, pesticides were being applied to fields in the watershed by airplane. The Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake in the world; it has now lost 90% of its source waters and two thirds of

3、its surface area. Salinity has increased fourfold. Changes in the lake have caused local climates to change and desertification has increased, along with rates of respiratory diseases and cancers from salt and toxic-laden dusts.The Aral Sea is one of the worst examples of how the extraction of a res

4、ource: in this case, water, to irrigate cotton fields has lead to the destruction of a way of life for thousands of people. The regions of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are the location for this tragedy, as the 2 great rivers, the Amur Darya and the Syr Darya have dried to a trickle from a former size t

5、o rival the Mississippi. I use the Aral Sea as an example of how resource development affects the environment in an MEDC. It is one of the worlds major, and ongoing tragedies. The resource in this case is WATER. There are fears that water may become a scarce resource, and therefore a cause of future

6、 conflict. The weather is being altered by the disappearance of the sea. The Aral Sea: once the worlds 4th largest inland sea, but now steadily shrinking. This has a lot of useful information, and could form the basis for an information gathering lesson. The sea is now the 8th largest body of inland

7、 water, and it may actually dry up altogether by 2020. It has declined from over 1000 cubic km in 1960 to 110 today. The fishing industry once employed 60 000 people. There have been many species lost from the area. Water is increasingly saline and the area is hit by toxic dust storms and desertification. The toxic chemicals are leading to terrible health issues in the region. The dust is spreading far beyond the region too, and there are terrible birth defects amongst the local population.Map of the aral sea