From sea to desert to forest

Last week I wrote about how Kazakhstan saved and restored the northern part of the Aral Sea. It did this by damming that part of the lake and essentially separating it from the larger basin. But what about that dry sandy expanse to the south, the Aralkum Desert?

The fate of the north and south parts of the Aral sea have gone in opposite directions. The north is in recovery. The south gets some spillover from the dam and seasonal flooding, but otherwise remains desert. The main river that flo...