Seasick

THF battle to save the Aral sea (Down To
Earth, Vol 4, No 12), which has been on
for several years now, is plagued by a
dearth of solutions. "They are compiling voluminous reports, listing developments and sending sporadic humanitarian relief. Yet, they have so far failed
to come up with a single project that
would help us stop this disaster," says
Berclibek Saparbayev, administrator of
Kazakhstan's Kzyl-Orda region, of the
93 Kazakh and foreign organisations
working on the huge inland lake.

According to Erkin Sultanbekov,
chairperson of the international culture
research society, one possible measure
could be to divert subterranean waters
of central Asia's Kara Kum desert to
the area. However, what requires
urgent attention is the concentration
of toxic chemicals in the region which
is a consequence of shrinking water
levels.