Amanda at 13:41, 9 August 2013

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Kremer-McNeil at 17:48, 31 July 2013

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Amanda at 19:25, 28 January 2013

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Mpritchard at 17:49, 22 August 2012

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{{Riparian
|Located in Region=Central Asia
|isastate=country
|Located in Country=
|Located in Country=
|Located in Sub Unit=
|Riparian Population=29600000
|Description=== Role in the Aral Sea Crisis ==

Uzbekistan’s main export is cotton, and it’s consistently ranked one of the top three exporters globally.<ref name="NCCoA">National Cotton Council of America. â€œRankings.â€ Accessed July 24, 2013. http://www.cotton.org/econ/cropinfo/cropdata/rankings.cfm. </ref> Cotton, unfortunately, requires lots of water to grow, which Uzbekistan does not naturally possess, especially now that its end of the Aral Sea (the Southern Sea) is so desiccated. Cotton has been grown in Uzbekistan for hundreds of years, and the practice of producing it is very much a part of the culture there. It was only during the Soviet period though, that cotton production expanded enormously (they called it “white gold”). This expansion was enabled by decades of problematic central planning by the Soviet Union, and wasteful, essentially unsustainable irrigation practices. As the Soviet Union expanded the territory irrigated in Uzbekistan, and thus the rate of cotton production, they provided the state with other resources, like food and energy in exchange.<ref name="Abdullaev et al">Adbullaev, I, Charlotte De Fraiture, Mark Giordano, Murat Yakubov, and Aziz Rasulov. 2009. â€œAgricultural Water Use and Trade in Uzbekistan: Situation and Potential Impacts of Market Liberalization.â€ Water Resources Development 25: 47-63, Accessed July 30, 2013. http://www.zef.de/module/register/media/5d18_Abdullaev_revise.pdf </ref>

Since their independence, Uzbekistan has taken several steps to ameliorate their agricultural system, including producing more wheat, and a little less cotton. This has proved beneficial both as a protection against food insecurity, and as a way to reduce water for irrigation, as wheat requires substantially less water than cotton, and a greater portion of what it does need can be taken in via rainfall. Unfortunately, this shift also appears to have had a somewhat negative impact on irrigation management systems, as the drainage system is now ‘in use’ almost full time, leaving little to no room for repairs or cleaning. The government has also created subsidies for cotton and wheat, in order to fill the quotas they desire.<ref name="Abdullaev et al" />

According to the FAO, Uzbekistan as a state is particularly at-risk with respect to water “because it has the highest irrigated area (4.3 million hectares), the biggest rural population (more than 14 million) and the highest population density of 49.6 persons per square kilometer.”<ref name="FAO CACILM"> Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. â€œLand Resources: Uzbekistan â€“ CACILM.â€ Accessed July 25, 2013. http://www.fao.org/nr/land/projects-programmes/cacilm-initiative/cacilm-project/uzbekistan/en/ </ref> While the government has evidently taken many steps in order to improve the country’s agricultural prospects, seriously rehabilitating the Aral Sea has not been among them. And while many of the steps they’ve taken have been useful, irrigation infrastructure, irrigation practices, and crop variety need strengthening, especially as Uzbekistan feels the effects of climate change.<ref name="Sutton et al 2013">Sutton, W.R., Srivastava, J.P., and Neumann, J.E. Looking Beyond the Horizon: How Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Responses Will Reshape Agriculture in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Report #76184. Series DIRECTIONS IN DEVELOPMENT Agriculture and Rural Development. The World Bank, Washington D.C. 2013. Electronic download July 31 2013 from http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/03/17473996/looking-beyond-horizon-climate-change-impacts-adaptation-responses-reshape-agriculture-eastern-europe-central-asia or http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2013/03/22/000356161_20130322155958/Rendered/PDF/761840PUB0EPI00LIC00pubdate03015013.pdf </ref> Furthermore, the locals have already seriously felt secondhand effects of the pollution from the drying Sea. Worrisome levels of metals, pesticides, and dioxins have made their way into cord blood and breast milk in the country.<ref name="Ataniyazova et al">Ataniyazova, O., Baumann, R., Liem, A., Mukhopadhyay, U., Vogelaar, E. and Boersma, E. 2001. â€œLevels of certain metals, organochlorine pesticides and dioxins in cord blood, maternal blood, human milk and some commonly used nutrients in the surroundings of the Aral Sea (Karakalpakstan, Republic of Uzbekistan).â€ Acta Paediatrica, 90: 801â€“808. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2001.tb02808.x </ref>
|Resources in Riparian=
|Water Project=
|Agreement=
|External Links=
|Case Review={{Case Review Boxes
|Empty Section=No
|Clean Up Required=No
|Expand Section=No
|Add References=No
|Wikify=No
|connect to www=No
|Out of Date=No
|Disputed=No
|MPOV=No
|Mpov=
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|Project Type=
}}

Republic of Uzbekistan - Revision history

Amanda at 13:41, 9 August 2013

Kremer-McNeil at 17:48, 31 July 2013

Kremer-McNeil at 17:45, 31 July 2013

Amanda at 19:25, 28 January 2013

Mpritchard at 17:49, 22 August 2012