The Republic of Uzbekistan is situated between the rivers of Amudarya and Syrdarya in central Eurasia between 37ºN and 45ºN and 56ºE and 73ºE in the sub-tropics. Its overall territory is spread over 448,400 km The country’s territory extends 1,400 km from west to east, and 925 km from south to north. The total length of the state borders is 6,621 km. Uzbekistan enjoys several advantages of favourable natural and geographic conditions as its territory represents a combination of mountainous, plain, and desert terrain. In the east and south-east, sandy steppes make way for hills and piedmont areas. Mountains constitute the largest ecosystem in the region and are highly significant for the country’s environmental balance and sustainability. They are an important source of land, water, biodiversity, energy and mineral resources, and have a determining role in climate and landscape diversity. West Tien Shan and Gissar-Alay are the major mountain ranges of Uzbekistan.
Photo source: IBEX, http://www.bioexploration.org/
The highest peak of Uzbekistan is in the Gissar Range, at an altitude of 4,463 meters above sea level. The lowest point within Uzbek territory is in the Mingbulak Lowlands, 12 meters below sea level. Large lowlands such as the FerghanaValley, Tashkent –Mirzachul, Sangzar–Nurata, and the alluvial plains of the Amudarya River are located among the mountains. In general, plains are favorable for economic activities, expansion of irrigated land and enhancement of yields of natural pastures. The largest rivers in both Uzbekistan and Central Asia are the Amudarya (1,415 km) and the Syrdarya (2,122 km). These rivers have formed wide flat plains, which are intensively used for irrigated agriculture.
Climate:
Uzbekistan’s climate is subtropical, sharply continental, hot and dry, with marked differences in daytime-nighttime and summer-winter temperatures. Its climatic features are due to a combination of three major factors-solar radiation, general atmospheric circulation and the local terrain. T -10ºC in the north and +2º, -3ºC in the south. Around the city of Termez the temperature is 18ºC on average. The country’s hottest month is July in general, while in the mountainous areas, it is July and August. In plain and piedmont areas, the average temperature in this period is between +25 and +30 42. The annual precipitation in most parts of the country does not exceed 200-300 mm. Downstream Amudarya and desert zones are the areas of the lowest precipitation with an average rainfall of below 10 mm.
Picture source: OSCE/Murod Khusanov
The precipitation level in mountainous areas rises relatively sharply, reaching up to 1,000 mm. the coldest month in the country is January, when the average temperature drops to 0С, while in the south (Sherabad) it can reach levels above0С. In desert areas air temperature during the hottest months may soar up to +700С. Solar radiation in summer month reaches 800-1,000 mJ/m 520. Winds usually blow from the north-east, east and south-east, and in summer, from the north and north-east. Uzbekistan has three major climatic zones: deserts and dry steppes, piedmont areas and mountains.
Almost all desert and dry steppe territories are less than 400 meters above sea level including the Kyzylkum Desert, the Ustyurt Plateau, and the Karshi and Dalverzin steppes. The piedmont zone surrounding the Tien Shan and the Gissar mountain systems is at altitudes of approximately 300 to 1,000 meters above sea level. The mountainous zone is situated at altitudes ranging from 1,000 to 4,000 meters above sea level. The snowfall zone usually starts 800 to 1,000 meters above sea level, with annual snowfall reaching up to 500 mm. Snow cover may last throughout the year 3,000 to 4,000 meters above sea level.
Water Resources
Amudarya and Syrdarya, the largest rivers of Central Asia, have an average perennial flow of 115.6 km 3 of which 78.5 km3 are from the Amudarya Basin, and 37.1 km3 from the Syrdarya Basin. These are the main sources of surface water flow in Uzbekistan. The Uzbek territory includes 6 percent in the Amudarya Basin and 16 percent in the Syrdarya Basin, constituting 8 percent of the total flow. Only a part of the total water resources of Uzbekistan is represented by the Aral Sea Basin. This Basin includes the Amudarya and the Syrdarya, as well as the river affluent to the Basin located within the Aral trench. The water resources of the Aral Sea Basin are almost fully used. The coefficient of water diversion into the Syrdarya Basin in low water years exceeds one, which implies secondary use of drainage and waste water in irrigation.
Photo source: IBEX, http://www.bioexploration.org/
Shortage and pollution of both surface and underground water resources is critical to the environmental security of Uzbekistan. Rivers, canals, water reservoirs, and even underground waters are experiencing various negative externalities of human activities. Since 1960s, due to widespread agricultural land development, extensive industrial development, livestock farming, urbanization, construction of collector and drainage systems, and diversion of river waters for irrigation, water quality in river basins has deteriorated rapidly.
This factor aggravates the environmental and epidemiological fragility as well as hygienic and sanitary conditions, particularly downstream. Mainly, mountain-fed rivers account for flow generation in Uzbekistan. Significant falls in altitude within the mountainous zone create favorable environmental conditions, facilitating fertile development of water biota during non-winter periods of the year, raising the level of trophicity downstream. The river water quality in the areas of flow formation is influenced by rocky pollution in riverbeds and manmade flows. There are no obvious sources of waterway pollution in mountain areas, and all changes in the physical and chemical features of water, and in the content and structure of periphyton are naturally caused by general landscape. The growing human pressure on river ecosystems is leading to profound changes in the water ecosystems. For instance, waterways situated in the areas of water flow formation of the Ferghana Valley have moderate or extremely weakly developed fouling biofilms. The biotic periphyton index in upstream zones stands at 10 (low grade environmental pressure), while downstream it is equal to 4 (high grade environmental pressure).
Key environmental issues
Uzbekistan’s main environmental problems are centred on water and agriculture. Besides the Aral Sea, Uzbekistan struggles with water supply and contamination problems throughout the country and the whole region. The agricultural heritage makes land deterioration and contamination Uzbekistan’s second largest problem for human security. The Aral Sea catastrophe dates back to decisions taken by the Soviet Union in the 1960s, when every effort was made to increase cotton production, mainly by increasing irrigation. The necessary water was tapped from rivers that feed the Aral Sea. This Soviet water management had a series of catastrophic environmental effects, which bear heavily on the region and most immediately affect the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan. They include environmental consequences, such as the reduction of the Aral Sea volume to less than half its size, the complete devastation of its ecology and the virtual extinction of fish.
Picture source: Unesco/Public Domain / P. Christopher Staecker
Desertification of vast areas, including the Amu Darya and Syr Darya deltas, “is changing the climate in the region” (UN ECE 2001: 64) and has reduced the Sea’s vicinity to a lifeless desert. The environmental changes impact directly on the population. The loss of fish has virtually destroyed the previously important fishing sector in the region, leaving 60,000 people unemployed (ibid.). Desertification and soil erosion cause winds to carry salt and dusts for hundreds of miles to be deposited over cultivated land and in human lungs.An additional threat to health is posed by Vozrozhdeniye Island’s history as a test site of the Soviet Defence Ministry (see Box 6). The lack of employment and fear of health risks has led to migration from the Aral Sea region, uprooting people and increasing population density in other areas of the country. Water quantity and quality are a key concern throughout Uzbekistan. In fact, “the majority of the country’s waterways are either moderately or heavily polluted” posing a considerable threat to human health and degrading irrigated land (ibid: 5). Pollution is mainly caused by agriculture, industry and human settlements. The allocation of crucial water supplies has led repeatedly to tensions between Uzbekistan and its downstream neighbours as well as upstream states, leading Uzbekistan to severely reduce its trade and from time to time close its borders.
