Once one of the largest lakes on Earth, the Aral Sea has become the center of one of history’s most devastating human-made environmental disasters. What was once a vast expanse of water supporting fishing communities and thriving ecosystems is now largely a barren landscape of salt-covered earth.
The transformation began with an ambitious Soviet agricultural project that gradually deprived the lake of the water needed to survive. Decades later, the consequences are far too serious to reverse.
But how, exactly, did this disaster unfold? Click on to find out.