Aralkum desert · 2024
Restored site · 2024
Our story
A slow catastrophe.
A slow catastrophe.
A patient response.
Once the fourth-largest lake on the planet, the Aral has been dying for sixty years. The exposed seabed — Aralkum — is Earth’s youngest desert, scattering toxic salts and pesticide residues across Central Asia. Aralforest plants saxaul, black saxaul and resilient local species right into the Aralkum. Roots stitch the soil back together. The air breathes again.
1960
the last year the Aral was whole
−7 m
annual drop in sea level at its worst
75M t
of toxic dust off the seabed each year
2018
the year Aralforest planted its first tree