干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

The geographic area of Central Asia is largely arid and semi-arid arid very sensitive to environmental perturbations. Recent changes in social structures and resource management practices, accompanied by regional climate change, have caused substantial environmental concerns. The Aral Sea has shrunk by almost 30% over the past two decades, the flow rate of the two major rivers in the region, the Amu Darya arid Syr Darya, has been reduced significantly due to overdraws along their courses from intensified irrigation and industrial use, soil salinization problems have worsened due to increased surface evaporation, snow covers arid glaciers have receded due to regional climate change arid thus reduced freshwater supplies to the region, and, as a result, the local economy has been significantly impacted to the extent that the potential for social unrest is a big concern. There is a need to develop new technologies to mitigate these environmental problems and at the same time there is a critical need to develop adaptation strategies to cope with continued environmental change. This chapter outlines at a broad scale the environmental issues of the region arid potential socioeconomic consequences.