Environmental Systems and Societies · Case studies

ECS.8 — The Aral Sea

Environmental Systems and Societies · SL / HL · syllabus-mapped notes

1. Overview

   How diverting two rivers for irrigation drained one of the largest lakes on Earth.

2. Systems and sustainability angle

   A water budget forced out of steady state: inputs cut, outputs unchanged, storage and salinity spiralling.

3. Management and response

   The Kok-Aral dam that saved the North Aral, while the South Aral was largely written off.

4. HL lens angle

   Transboundary water law across five states, and the economics of cotton versus a vanished sea.