ASTANA – The new documentary “Amu Darya: River to a Missing Sea” seeks to raise awareness about the escalating environmental crisis surrounding the Amu Darya and its implications for the Central Asian region’s ecosystems and communities. The Astana Times spoke with Annie Liddell, the project co-founder, about the team’s efforts, challenges, and discoveries during the filming process.
Once the pulsing aorta of the whole region, now Amu Darya is affected by poor water management and climate change. Photo provided by Project Amu Darya team.
Project Amu Darya is a team of three Oxford University students, Annie Liddell, Oscar Fraser Turner, and James Chapman, who have created an oral history documentary film about the Amu Darya delta in Uzbekistan.
“Over three months in 2023, we interviewed stakeholders in the Amu Darya delta, specifically in Khorezm and Karakalpakstan, to share personal perspectives on the upstream impacts of the Aral Sea crisis and the resulting social and environmental challenges,” said Liddell.
The Amu Darya is Central Asia’s largest river, originating in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan. It passes through Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, eventually reaching what was once the Aral Sea – now a desiccated seabed.
Once the pulsing aorta of the whole region, Amu Darya is affected by poor management and climate change.
The impact of education in countering false narratives
During the research, Liddell and her team discovered that the lack of education and communication around the Aral Sea crisis is a major barrier to mitigating regional environmental degradation.
The draining of the Aral Sea is one of the most significant environmental disasters in Central Asia and beyond. Once the world’s fourth-largest lake, the Aral Sea, located between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, has been shrinking rapidly since the 1960s and lost around 90% of its original size.
“Since the inception of the project, we have worked to use our film to address some of the ongoing issues around the Aral Sea crisis. Our main goal is to increase education and communication around ecology in Uzbekistan,” said Liddell.
According to Liddell, local communities play a crucial role in shaping the future of the Amu Darya River. Photo provided by Project Amu Darya team.
Using the film as an environmentalist opportunity, the Project Amu Darya team strives to make a tangible impact by increasing awareness of the crisis. The failure to recognize the value of water becomes the leading cause of its waste and misuse.
According to Liddell, efforts to tackle the water crisis need to extend to the classrooms.
“Over the past two years, we have involved over 30 Uzbek and Karakalpak students in the film’s production. As we plan our project’s dissemination, we are working to get the film into educational workshops in Uzbek schools. We hope it can serve to create more space for conversations about water management and encourage greater youth engagement in environmental issues,” said Liddell.
“So far, our early screenings have shown us that the youth in Uzbekistan are interested in learning about ecological issues and ecological history, though they frequently report not having the opportunities to do so,” she added.
Amu Darya reaches what was once the Aral Sea – now a desiccated seabed. Photo provided by Project Amu Darya team.
Many communities have yet to grasp the gravity of the situation, exacerbated by misinformation.
“One of the biggest challenges we encountered was the significant amount of misinformation surrounding the root causes of the Aral Sea crisis. Many communities did not have the opportunity to learn about the Aral Sea crisis when it was happening, and incorrectly attribute the sea shrinking to factors such as Soviet nuclear testing or a rumor that saxaul trees have been consuming the Aral Sea’s water resources,” said Liddell.
“This problem is exacerbated by the fact that students in the region are still rarely educated about their ecological history and that much of the research on the Aral Sea crisis is not translated into Karakalpak and Uzbek, making it hard for local communities to engage with their own crisis,” she added.
Young people would have to navigate a world impacted by the water crisis, so it is crucial for them to learn about history, science, and its consequences.
“Without a clear understanding of the crisis, it is difficult for communities to connect this issue to effective management strategies. For example, very few farmers along the Amu Darya Delta are switching to sustainable irrigation methods: why would they, when they don’t think that water management has anything to do with the Aral Sea Crisis?” said Liddell.
Another key challenge, she noted, is the focus on the past of the Aral Sea rather than on the Amu Darya and its future.
“While there are crucial lessons to learn from the loss of the Aral Sea, it is equally important to discuss ongoing issues related to water quality and availability as part of the conversation,” said Liddell. “We can’t save the sea, but we can save the river.”
What role does the government play?
Liddel highlighted several projects that the Uzbek government has undertaken to smooth out the effects of the water crisis in the future.
“The government is undertaking important large-scale initiatives to protect the rest of the Amu Darya. They have implemented measures to reduce water usage by 25% over the next five years and are using innovative technologies like drip irrigation to create more sustainable agriculture in the delta. However, this vital work needs to be complemented by an education and communications campaign to ensure local communities can engage and invest in these efforts,” said Liddell.
The Project Amu Darya team interviewed individuals from diverse backgrounds, including students, former fishermen, museum directors, NGO representatives, and community leaders. Photo provided by Project Amu Darya team.
The Uzbek and Kazakh governments have been working to mitigate the negative impacts of the Aral Sea crisis, which has increased dust storms and related health risks across Central Asia. Spanning six million hectares, with 2.8 million hectares in Kazakhstan and 3.2 million hectares in Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea region now generates over 100 million tons of dust and toxic salt annually.
“Some of the most striking stories in the Amu Darya delta relate to the worsening dust storms that have been increasing in the region and across all of Central Asia. Many of our interviewees in the delta remembered a storm in 2017 where you could barely breathe outside, and all you could see was a hurricane of sand. In the morning, schools, houses, and streets were all covered in a layer of toxic crust – sand, salt, and pesticide runoff from the desert, which was once the former seabed of the Aral Sea,” said Liddell.
Uzbekistan’s ambitious saxaul plantation initiative instills optimism that it will help mitigate the increasing number of dust storms in Central Asia and avert related health risks. The Uzbek side has planted more than 1.73 million hectares of forest plantations in what is now the Aralkum desert since 2018.
A similar initiative in Kazakhstan, known as the Oasis Project, is being supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Kazakh government. This project focuses on planting black saxaul trees to stabilize the desert landscape and prevent sandstorms.
Additionally, the Kazakh Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, in collaboration with the World Bank, is advancing the second phase of the Northern Aral Sea preservation project. The sea has recently seen an increase in water volume, with 1.1 billion cubic meters entering its basin, bringing the total volume to 21.4 billion cubic meters.
What could local communities do?
According to Liddell, local communities play a crucial role in shaping the future of the Amu Darya River.
“To prevent the river from completely disappearing, local communities will need to adopt more sustainable water practices by switching to less water-intensive crops, insulating their canals, and not polluting the waterways. All these issues need addressing on a local scale, but they are only a small part of an effort that must take place on a national scale,” said Liddell.
“Uzbekistan will need to bring more educational and practical resources to local communities along the Amu Darya so that they can learn how to assist in the transition to sustainable water practices – and understand why it is important,” she added.
With two million people relying on the Amu Darya delta for their livelihoods, the river’s decline poses a dire threat. Without urgent action, these communities risk becoming two million climate refugees in Central Asia.
“The Uzbek government needs to cooperate on water use with all states along the Amu Darya so that the river’s upstream resources are shared responsibly,” said Liddell.
“This is what our project boils down to – to build resources and opportunities for more education and communication around the Aral Sea crisis so that people can be empowered to protect their river and combat the degradation of their environment,” she said.
Filming experience in Uzbekistan
The Project Amu Darya team interviewed individuals from diverse backgrounds, including students, former fishermen, museum directors, NGO representatives, and community leaders. Liddell described the experience as profoundly enriching, providing her with invaluable insights.
“Living and working in Uzbekistan has been an incredibly rewarding experience. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to travel through the Amu Darya delta, engage with its people, and share its unique landscapes and stories,” said Liddell.
“The diversity of experiences related to the Amu Darya and the Aral Sea was striking. Only a few kilometers apart, a whole new set of stories emerged – many of them tying as far back into the oral histories of the Zoroastrian period. I am so grateful to have experienced the cultural wealth of the Amu Darya delta,” she added.
As the Project Amu Darya team traveled through the region, Liddell was amazed by the rich linguistic mosaic she encountered, including Uzbek, Tajik, the Khorezmian dialect, and Karakalpak.
Her journey also revealed the abundant wildlife that once thrived there—such as tigers—and the species that now require urgent conservation, including the saiga antelope.
Among her lasting impressions, Liddell also emphasized the warm hospitality of the local people.
“There were some challenging aspects of the work, mainly everyday filming challenges such as dealing with sand and the road conditions around the Aral Sea. Nevertheless, the emphasis on hospitality in Khorezm and Karakalpakstan meant that we found kind help and friendship everywhere we went,” she said.
“Amu Darya: River to a Missing Sea” had several screenings in Tashkent and Chichester, England. It has also earned a nomination at the Little Venice Film Festival and won the Best Environment and Climate Film award at the Ponza Film Festival.
