Nature–society linkages in the Aral Sea region

Central Asia's Aral Sea crisis represents a disaster of monumental proportions, a tragedy for both the region's ecology and its human inhabitants. While the human and natural environments had operated in a sustainable co-joined system for millennia, Tsarist Russian expansion into Central A...

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Main Author: Kristopher D. White
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2013-01-01
Series:Journal of Eurasian Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187936651200022X
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spelling doaj-30778615d9e74ee1be5d1e375e5257122020-11-25T03:15:42ZengSAGE PublishingJournal of Eurasian Studies1879-36652013-01-0141183310.1016/j.euras.2012.10.003Nature–society linkages in the Aral Sea regionKristopher D. WhiteCentral Asia's Aral Sea crisis represents a disaster of monumental proportions, a tragedy for both the region's ecology and its human inhabitants. While the human and natural environments had operated in a sustainable co-joined system for millennia, Tsarist Russian expansion into Central Asia, followed by Soviet expansion of both the cotton industry and unsustainable irrigation practices to anchor it spelled doom for the Aral Sea. Today, many of the political and economic stimuli for such misguided practices continue, as do the continued retreat of the Sea and the proliferation of poor human health. The Aral Sea crisis has received ample scholarly attention, though somewhat surprising is a relative dearth of research explicitly investigating the nature, variety, and directionality of nature–society linkages today within the region. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the contemporary nature–society linkages operating within the Aral Sea region of Central Asia. Historical nexuses will provide necessary background, and the linkages operating currently within the spheres of regional economy, human health, and political considerations will be detailed. Couching the current crisis within the framework of coupled human–environment system contexts reveals a region in which these linkages are largely inextricable. This paper concludes with a call for a reconsideration of the nature-society linkages and a greater emphasis placed on the local region's ecological and social sustainability.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187936651200022XAral SeaCentral AsiaHuman–environment tradition
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Kristopher D. White
spellingShingle Kristopher D. White
Nature–society linkages in the Aral Sea region
Journal of Eurasian Studies
Aral Sea
Central Asia
Human–environment tradition
author_facet Kristopher D. White
author_sort Kristopher D. White
title Nature–society linkages in the Aral Sea region
title_short Nature–society linkages in the Aral Sea region
title_full Nature–society linkages in the Aral Sea region
title_fullStr Nature–society linkages in the Aral Sea region
title_full_unstemmed Nature–society linkages in the Aral Sea region
title_sort nature–society linkages in the aral sea region
publisher SAGE Publishing
series Journal of Eurasian Studies
issn 1879-3665
publishDate 2013-01-01
description Central Asia's Aral Sea crisis represents a disaster of monumental proportions, a tragedy for both the region's ecology and its human inhabitants. While the human and natural environments had operated in a sustainable co-joined system for millennia, Tsarist Russian expansion into Central Asia, followed by Soviet expansion of both the cotton industry and unsustainable irrigation practices to anchor it spelled doom for the Aral Sea. Today, many of the political and economic stimuli for such misguided practices continue, as do the continued retreat of the Sea and the proliferation of poor human health. The Aral Sea crisis has received ample scholarly attention, though somewhat surprising is a relative dearth of research explicitly investigating the nature, variety, and directionality of nature–society linkages today within the region. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the contemporary nature–society linkages operating within the Aral Sea region of Central Asia. Historical nexuses will provide necessary background, and the linkages operating currently within the spheres of regional economy, human health, and political considerations will be detailed. Couching the current crisis within the framework of coupled human–environment system contexts reveals a region in which these linkages are largely inextricable. This paper concludes with a call for a reconsideration of the nature-society linkages and a greater emphasis placed on the local region's ecological and social sustainability.
topic Aral Sea
Central Asia
Human–environment tradition
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187936651200022X
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