Michael H. Glantz, 21 June 2004

Comparing three case studies: The Aral Sea, Lake Victoria, and the Galapagos Islands

Aral Sea
Problems of irrigation existed at a lower level before 1960 but were accelerated as a result of a politburo decision to expand irrigated cotton cultivation in central Asia around 1960. This decision was based solely on the desire to produce more cotton for textile mills in the USSR and for export. No consideration apparently was given by the government to the adverse impacts of such a policy on the arid environment and people in the region. Hence, the Aral sea is now seen as the poster child for destructive land and water use specifically and the human destruction of an otherwise sustainable desert landscape, sustainable in the sense that as land became salinized, other parts of the desert could be irrigated. Once the fourth largest inland sea on the globe, today it is almost gone and the reason is because of human disregard for the sea as an object of nature. In fact one Soviet study suggested that the water diverted to the desert for cotton production was 100 times more valuable that the same unit of water used to keep a few fish alive. Those making the calculation did not consider the eventual loss of 60,000 jobs in the fishing sector, the sharp decline in human health conditions, a drop in life expectancy, an increase in forced emigration, the destruction of various ecosystems and the change in regional climate conditions [hotter summers, colder winters], and so forth. / Lake Victoria
The problems of societal and environmental changes in the Lake Victoria basin could be traced to the desire to create a large scale commercial fishery for export in Lake Victoria. Around 1960, Nile perch were introduced to the lake as were trawlers to catch them and factories to process them for the marketplace. Apparently little if any serious consideration or study had been given to the environmental impacts on ecosystems, other fish species and the lake’s characteristics. As a result there has been a sharp reduction on the kinds of fish that artisenal fishermen caught, that local markets would sell. Job and health conditions slowly deteriorated. This led to other problems such as deforestation, sediment loading of the lake and a sharp reduction in the size of Nile perch being caught. The process is such that the Nile perch consumed many of the popular species caught near shore, putting fishermen and fish mongers out of business. Even those catching Nile perch are finding them to be much smaller than in the past due to competition for food in the lake. Many were driven away to the forests in order to produce charcoal to sell or use to cook discarded Nile perch carcasses. The increase in sediment and sewerage flowing into the lake led to the sharp increase in water hyacinth which had hampered navigation along the shore and has led to dead zones in the lake due to the loss of oxygen in the water column beneath it. Several countries are banding together to address the set of related environmental, socio-economic problems in the Lake’s riparian countries. The World Bank for example has put considerable funding toward addressing these issues. / Galapagos Islands
The Galapagos islands have been visited on a limited scale since the middle of the 1500s. They were made famous by the visit in the mid 1800s by Charles Darwin who referred to them as nature’s laboratory for evolution. In the post WWII period the islands started to become an ecotourism attraction and those tourists brought to Ecuador foreign currency sorely needed for its economic development prospects. This was seen as a good thing. This process also started to accelerate after the first ecotour boat visited the islands around 1960. Since then, a dynamic situation developed as more tourists required more support on the islands which in turn attracted migrants from the Ecuador mainland where job prospects were bleak to non-existent. The islands became a magnet not only to the service sector but to fishermen as well. The waters around the islands were seen as biologically highly productive. Today there is a major conflict brewing after several skirmishes between the fishermen and those seeking to preserve the islands for ecotourism. The dynamics are started between poor militant fishermen and those seeking to preserve the islands and protect the burgeoning ecotourism business. The immigrants challenge leaving alone the 97% of the land that is within the national park which has put it off limits to human settlements and exploitation. Fishermen are focused on sea cucumber, seen by Asians as an aphrodisiac and commanding a high price. Many illegal fishing activities and fish processing camps have been set up in remote parts of various islands. Trash is mounting as well as other forms of pollution. The Navy is not large or strong enough to control them.