Environmental
issues in
Uzbekistan
• Despite Uzbekistan's rich and diverse natural
environment, decades of environmental neglect
in the former Soviet Union, have made
Uzbekistan one of the most serious
environmental crises in the CIS. An overview of
Uzbekistan's environmental problems presented
by Naturvernforbundet, Factsanddetails, and
Countrystudies will show the ill-conceived nature
of human economic activity in the country
• The intensive use of agrochemicals, the
diversion of huge amounts of irrigation water
from the two rivers that feed the region, and the
chronic lack of water treatment facilities are
• Environmental devastation in Uzbekistan is
best illustrated by the Aral Sea disaster.
Because of the diversion of the Amu Darya
and Syr Darya for cotton growing and other
purposes, which was once the fourth largest
inland sea in the world has shrunk in the last
thirty years to about one-third of its 1960
volume and less than half its 1960 geographic
size.
• Lake desiccation and salinization caused
severe storms of salt and dust from the dried
seabed, damaging the region's agriculture and
• Lake desiccation and salinization caused severe storms of salt
and dust from the dried seabed, damaging the region's
agriculture and ecosystems and public health. Desertification
has resulted in large-scale plant and animal mortality, loss of
cropland, changes in climatic conditions, depletion of crops
on cultivated lands that remain, and destruction of historical
and cultural monuments. Many tons of salt are reportedly
transported up to 800 kilometers each year
• Regional experts claim that salt and dust storms in the Aral
Sea have raised the level of particulate matter in the earth's
atmosphere by more than 5 percent, seriously affecting
global climate change. However, the Aral Sea disaster is only
the most visible indicator of environmental destruction.
• The Soviet approach to environmental management led to
decades of poor water management and lack of water
treatment and purification facilities; excessive use of pesticides,
herbicides, defoliants, and fertilizers in the fields; and
construction of industrial plants without regard to human or
environmental impact. This policy poses enormous
environmental problems throughout Uzbekistan.
• Industrial waste and intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides in
agriculture have contributed to serious pollution of rivers and
lakes in Uzbekistan. Contaminated drinking water is considered
the cause of many human health problems. Agricultural
chemicals have also contaminated the soil in areas where crops
are grown. In 1992, the government established the State
Environmental Protection Committee. Nevertheless,
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) became leaders in
environmental initiatives, especially with regard to preserving
and protecting regional water resources.
