Uzbekistan, April 9 -- At the Aral Culture Summit in Nukus, participants discussed how to restore biodiversity in the Aral Sea region and ensure water supply for ecosystems.

According to reports, local communities used to catch up to 35,000 tons of fish annually in the Aral Sea water basins. Millions of people worked in livestock farming, poultry farming, fishing, and agriculture in the fertile lands of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya deltas. However, regional authorities diverted major rivers to support agriculture and built numerous hydrotechnical structures, which caused the Aral Sea's water volume to shrink by 14 times. Its salinity level increased nearly 25 times. This destroyed almost all the fish and other marine life that once thrive...