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Environment
Uzbekistan borders Turkmenistan in the west; Kazakhstan
in the north and east; and Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and a sliver
of Afghanistan in the south. The country is slightly larger
than California, and over two-thirds of it, mostly in the
west, is steppe and desert. In the east, however, Uzbekistan
tilts upward towards the mountains, and in this region, the
country's rivers start. Central Asia's greatest waterway,
the Amu-Darya, forms much of the border with Turkmenistan
and Afghanistan.
In the 1960s, Soviet planners set out
to increase Uzbekistan's cotton production through the development
of a vast irrigation system. The diversion of water from the
Amudarya and Sirdarya Rivers is severely reducing the flow
of freshwater in the region and of water flowing into the
Aral Sea in the north of the country. As a result, the Aral
Sea has lost 75 percent of its volume and half of its area.
The environmental and economic impacts if this water diversion
are staggering. The area's fishing industry has been destroyed;
the local climate has been altered; and the resulting salinization
of the soil and water, as well as chemical residues from cotton
farming, have caused serious health problems. The native flora
and fauna have also been devastated. Overall, the irrigation
projects in the steppes of Uzbekistan ahve degraded the soil;
polluted the water; and caused large-scale erosion, aridity,
and salinity.
The climate in Uzbekistan is continental.
Temperatures in UZbeksitan vary wildly, with 20-degree-C drops
in temperature at night and dramatic differences between the
deserts and mountains. Rainfall is minimal excet at higher
altitudes, and falls mainly from March to April and Octover
to November. The lowlands can be quite pleasant from May to
early June and September to early October. Midsummer is very
hot, with temperatures up to 40-degree-C in Tashkent and 50-degree-C
in southern Uzbekistan. In winter (January to February), daytime
temperatures hover around -5-degree-C to 10-degree-C. In general,
there is little precipitation, low humidity, and a lot of
sunshine throughout the year.
For
more info on Uzbekistan visit: The
Cia World Factbook Uzbekistan page
Next: HISTORY
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