This is a visual journey through the mountain valleys that feed the Amu Darya river, the longest in Central Asia. The river's source is in Tajikistan's Pamir mountains, which rise to over 7,000 metres. The Pamiri glaciers melt in summer, providing settlements in the mountain valleys with fresh water, blooming fruit trees and irrigation for family farms. Over half of the water that irrigates the cotton fields of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan originates here, but overuse has led to an...
more »
This is a visual journey through the mountain valleys that feed the Amu Darya river, the longest in Central Asia. The river's source is in Tajikistan's Pamir mountains, which rise to over 7,000 metres. The Pamiri glaciers melt in summer, providing settlements in the mountain valleys with fresh water, blooming fruit trees and irrigation for family farms. Over half of the water that irrigates the cotton fields of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan originates here, but overuse has led to an environmental catastrophe. The river's mouth used to be in the Aral Sea, but it does not reach what is left of the sea anymore and peters out in the desert.
The region has been increasingly troubled by cross-border water and energy disputes since its resources were divided among five new nations in 1991. Under the Soviet Union, the republics of Central Asia exchanged water and energy in a barter system designed and controlled from Moscow. When the USSR broke up the new states were burdened with plunging economies and autocratic leaders who had little interest in cooperating to resolve their problems.
The Tajik government has pinned its future economic prosperity on the development of hydropower. Water is one of the few resources the country possesses in great abundance, but it is currently harnessing only about five percent of its hydroelectric potential. Downstream, there has been strong opposition from Uzbekistan, which is concerned that it is losing control of water, and that this will cause a long-term loss of power.
« less