4 ms·
How feasible is it to restore the whole thing to pre-1960 levels? If they stopped cotton farming and opened up the dams, would the ecosystem naturally heal?
by lordgrenville 4y ago
How feasible is it to restore the whole thing to pre-1960 levels? If they stopped cotton farming and opened up the dams, would the ecosystem naturally heal?
- gedy 4y agoFrom the article it sounds like the countries talk around that by "bringing life back", etc but not stopping the agriculture.
- doodlebugging 4y agoWhat is your timeline? It took a couple of generations for the lake to get in this poor condition. It will likely take at least that long for it to be restored since the area has become more arid. If left totally alone with all natural flows enabled it will eventually fill. That assumes that water is not used for irrigation along the way. If you allow continued irrigation of thirst crops then your recovery is delayed or disabled. The countries that share responsibility for the health of this lake need to work together to design a long-term regional plan. This will probably put a lot of families who depend on agriculture out of work and displace them. In the long term though it will allow fishermen the opportunity to return to an active fishery that supplies healthy food options for local consumption or for export. Solving the issue of accumulated soil contaminants could partly be handled in stages using plant filters along the lake edge as the lake level rises slowly. Managing contaminants in agricultural areas where runoff feeds the lake could also be accomplished in stages by alternating swaths of plants that sequester contaminants with other agricultural crops so that over the region, all the land has a remediating crop at least once a year. Maybe? I don't know. It will take a while no matter how you do it.