Central Asia’s Ticking Time Bomb: Water

By Valerie Kipnis,

Claire Harbage, Connie Hanzhang Jin, Daniel Wood

Published October 30, 2024 at 5:00 AM EDT

Omerserik Ibragimov heads out to put his nets in the water for fish on the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan.

The Aral Sea has nearly disappeared over the last 60 years. Now, its source rivers are depleting.

View the full project: https://apps.npr.org/aral-sea-shrinking-map/

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Valerie Kipnis

Claire Harbage

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Connie Hanzhang Jin

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Daniel Wood

Daniel Wood is a visual journalist at NPR, where he brings data and analyses into complex topics by paired reporting with custom charts, maps and explainers. He focuses on data-rich topics like COVID-19 outcomes, climate change and politics. His interest in tracking a small outbreak of a novel coronavirus in January 2020 helped position NPR to be among the leading news organizations to provide daily updates on the growth and impact of COVID-19 around the country and globe.

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