Uzbekistan leases this land for farming—mostly cotton. "If they privatized and let the farmers decide what to grow," says Aral Sea expert Philip Micklin, "you'd see more efficient use of water." ...

Before the 1960s, the fourth largest lake on Earth glistened for miles across the borders of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

When Maria Zadneprovskaya first saw the Aral Sea in 2021, she was overcome by a ... diverted for irrigation in the Soviet era to water cotton and rice fields. By 2010, the surface area had shrunk ...

the two rivers that feed the Aral. Under the Soviet Union, the rivers were diverted to use for agriculture -- mainly for cotton and rice cultivation, causing the sea to shrink by up to 90 percent ...

A photojournalist’s pitch turned into a project that took this team to a remote area rarely covered by news outlets Photojournalist Ebrahim Noroozi had a vision when he pitched a story on the Aral Sea ...

the two rivers that feed the Aral. Under the Soviet Union, the rivers were diverted to use for agriculture -- mainly for cotton and rice cultivation, causing the sea to shrink by up to 90 percent in ...