U.N. chief shocked by shrinking lake [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

U.N. chief shocked by shrinking lake
'Clearly one of the worst disasters,' he says of Aral Sea

http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com.nyud.net:8090/j/ap/uzbekistan%20un-704772473.hlarge.jpg

Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon views a graveyard of ships
that once had been on the shores of the Aral Sea in Muynak,
Uzbekistan, on Sunday.

By JIM HEINTZ
updated 2 hours, 20 minutes ago

NUKUS, Uzbekistan - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday called the drying up of the Aral Sea one of the planet's most shocking disasters and urged Central Asian leaders to step up efforts to solve the problem.

Once the world's fourth-largest lake, the sea has shrunk by 90 percent since the rivers that feed it were largely diverted in a Soviet project to boost cotton production in the arid region.

The shrunken sea has ruined the once-robust fishing economy and left fishing trawlers stranded in sandy wastelands, leaning over as if they dropped from the air. The sea's evaporation has left layers of highly salted sand, which winds can carry as far away as Scandinavia and Japan, and which plague local people with health troubles.

Ban toured the sea by helicopter as part of a visit to the five countries of former Soviet Central Asia. His trip included a touchdown in Muynak, Uzbekistan, a town once on the shore where a pier stretches eerily over gray desert and camels stand near the hulks of stranded ships.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36167170/ns/world_news-world_environment/