Dry As a Slightly Moist Bone

Aral Sea restoration project nets $126 million more from World Bank

When is a sea not a sea? When it's a desert. Over the last five decades, the inland Aral Sea -- which straddles the border of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan -- has shrunk to a fraction of its original size, thanks to Soviet policies that diverted its feeder rivers for farming. But a dam funded by the World Bank has begun to restore the Kazakh section, and now a second, $126 million infusion from the bank will do even more to fix one of the world's worst human-made environmental disasters. "The rebirth of the Northern Aral Sea ... shows that if we fret about the environment and invest money, it is possible to get reassuring results," says Viktor Danilov-Danilyan of the Russian Academy of Sciences. "The loss of such a unique natural resource ... would be a global tragedy. And it cannot be allowed to happen." Heeding Viktor: Kazakhs who are once again catching fish and finding strength in the sea. Not so much heeding: Uzbeks who may leave their part of the seabed dry and explore it for oil and gas.