Aral Sea Basin Now a CO2 Emitter which Threatens to Increase Global Warming rather than a C02 Sink which Restrained that Trend, Kazakh Analysts Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 12 – The impact of the death of the Aral Sea on surrounding areas is well-documented and much of the discussion about what to do now is between those who want to find more water to flow into the seabed, a difficult task indeed, and those who want to plant trees on the former seabed to prevent the spread of dust and dangerous elements.

            Those favoring a focus on planting trees to hold the soil in place have had the upper hand not only because such steps can be taken by the government that controls the specific littoral of the former sea but also because planting trees is much easier than changing water use patterns on the rivers which had filled the sea in the past.

            But new research on the death of the Aral suggests that the consequences of its death are larger and more international than any had thought earlier and that it could even be the case that international payments to fight global warming could lead to the restoration of the sea by providing money for dealing with the feeder rivers.

            What this research shows, Kazakhstan investigators say, is that as long as the sea was in existence,  vegetation on its bed help enormous among of carbon dioxide; but now that the sea has died, all of that CO2 is being released, increasing global warming and harming more than just those around the sea (vlast.kz/obsshestvo/70851-vysohsee-dno-aralskogo-mora-stanovitsa-istocnikom-ugleroda-cto-s-etim-delat.html).

            According to European research cited by the Kazakh experts, international payments to support carbon sinks and reverse the release of more carbon dioxide could amount to as much as 15.8 billion euros (18 billion US dollars). That could be sufficient to take the steps needed to change water use patterns on the feeder rivers and allow the Aral Sea to make a comeback.

            This is almost certainly an overly optimistic view; but the fact that it is being offered may change the debate over the Aral and other threatened bodies of water, shifting the balance away from those who see the death of these bodies of water as irreversible to those who now can show just how dangerous to how many countries failure to take steps in that direction would be.