Customer Reviews

The Devil and the Disappearing Sea: A True Story About the Aral Sea Catastrophe

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A well-written account of one Canadian's attempt to cut through the left-over soviet-style bureaucracies of five Central Asian countries. Ferguson was employed by the World Bank to develop a PR strategy to convince wasteful water users on the Aral Sea's two main feeder rivers to change their practises, which are dooming the once-massive inland sea to eventual disappearance. However, his project is locally headed by the man who was originally responsible for the Soviet's collosal irrigation schemes that caused the problem. The book is an entertaining, and suspenseful, account of the intricate scheming and nationalist jockeying amongst the nnumerable teams and factions trying to either save or undermine the whole PR project, while skimming off as much of the project money as they can. The struggle finally results in a murder which forces Ferguson to flee the region. Ferguson gives lively descriptions of the character of the people he works with, or against, as well as providing a wry historical and travel commentary for the whole region. His text is filled with verbatim dialogue and he uses no fictional names. The whole account is very believable, and completely damning to the autocratic regimes that rule the five countries where he worked. After this book, it is unlikely Ferguson will be visiting Central Asia again any time soon.

Not long ago I would have had to think about just where in the world the Aral Sea was and why I should care. Not a fan of serious works on the destruction of earth's landforms at the hands of humans - they make me feel guilty - I wasn't sure that this book was for me. But what a surprise. I was drawn in immediately to this tale of corruption in central Asia. Ferguson can write - think of a mix of Le Carre, Bill Bryson and Wade Davis. He is a natural storyteller with a gift for showing us both comedy and tragedy, the fools, the innocents and the villains. Himself an innocent, Ferguson lands in Tashkent ready to play his role to help 'save the Aral Sea.' On a year's contract to co-ordinate a public awareness program, funded by the World Bank and managed by a PR company in France, he no sooner finds an office and an apartment than the games begin.

Mr. G, the villain, is a scary guy and Tashkent feels like lonely post for a foreign aid specialist from Canada. Ferguson writes with just the right mixture of humility, wit and bravado - we can really believe that we are there with him. He has a fascinating story to tell - one filled with mystery and intrigue, and set in exotic places - Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Samarkand. But there is nothing exotic about the Soviet landscapes imposed upon the cities and countryside that Ferguson visits or his role as suspect in the messy murder of an attractive office manager.

I learned something about the Aral Sea and its plight from this book. I even learned a little about foreign aid, how it is spent and why - and who sometimes ends up with the money. But what makes this book so good is Ferguson's affection for the places he visits and the people he meets there. He also has the healthy cynicism of one that knows that the world's great ecological disasters are not going to be corrected by good intentions alone. He at once informs and entertains. I hope that he has another book in the works.

There is a hideous catastrophe going on with the Aral Sea in the former Soviet Union, as what was once the fourth largest lake in the world has been shrinking and is expected to disappear completely in the coming decades. The main culprits are uncontrolled water use, inefficient Soviet irrigation schemes that deplete the nearby rivers, and grand schemes to turn the surrounding desert into an agricultural powerhouse. The most recent problem is bickering between the five newly independent Central Asian Republics that occupy the Aral Sea basin and use its water. Rob Ferguson was involved in an unsuccessful international aid project to change the attitudes of the region's peoples about water use, and to rally public support for saving the sea. Here Ferguson describes the horrendous politics that he and the foreign consultants faced in Central Asia, being subjected to stifling bureaucracy, office politics, infighting, and influence peddling that doomed the project to failure. Short-term political squabbles basically overwhelmed anyone's concern about the long-term environmental catastrophe

Ferguson mostly sticks with the drama of the office politics, and while this offers some insight into the cultures of Central Asian people and the horrors of leftover Soviet-style bureaucracy, he mostly under-reports on the sea and its larger ecological issues himself. I was also a bit turned off by Ferguson's running condemnation (sometimes verging on character assassination) of the higher bureaucrats who stifled his efforts, and especially a woman associated with the project who was murdered, only to offhandedly give them credit in the acknowledgments. There are lessons to be found in Ferguson's focus on the cultural and political weaknesses of the region that will forever stifle progress on the issue. But Ferguson's report wastes much of its potential as a powerful magnum opus on water politics and the looming disaster faced by regular people throughout Central Asia. [~doomsdayer520~]

I couldn't put this book down. It's totally gripping. And it's a very unique type of non-fiction book, to say the least!

I probably wouldn't have been interested in a lengthy matter-of-fact presentation of the circumstances of the Aral Sea impasse, although it's a topic I've been mildly curious about for a few years. (The availability of fresh water is bound to be a huge issue worldwide in the years to come.)

But I was drawn to the entertaining and sardonic tone of Ferguson's writing, and I quickly found his book is a real page-turner -- with the "murder mystery" plot interwoven with the political machinations faced by the team trying to solve the fresh water crisis in Central Asia. And I would have felt "adrift" without the recurring bits of historical and cultural background that Ferguson provides throughout (Central Asia is still a bit of a mystery to me, after so many years tucked away behind the Iron Curtain, and despite the recent developments in nearby Afghanistan).

Why aren't there more books like this?

I'm not suggesting the world needs MORE obstructed attempts to solve environmental crises, simply so that insiders can write scathing first-hand accounts of the real-world complexities behind that type of endeavour! But I think it's amazing that Ferguson was involved in the predicament he writes about, yet he didn't get co-opted by it -- I would assume most people in such a situation would try to save face by hoping nobody noticed. The organizational (or professional) self-preservation instinct. Y'know?

Ferguson evidently had a frightening adventure, and I'm glad he shared his story with us instead of sweeping it under the carpet, and counting his blessings.

Truth is stranger than fiction - This age-old adage could not more aptly describe the amazing tale of a Canadian trying to bring his communications skills to the political quagmire in Central Asia. The reason is the disappearing Aral Sea and the urgent need to face the threat and, hopefully, launch a regional campaign to reverse the dangerous trend. The story is also about the politicians who have taken(or maintained control) over the running of the five neighboring states after the collapse of the Soviet system, their politics now and then to plan away this precious water and biodiversity resource. Add to that situation the ambitions of the World Bank and international consultants to guide the process you get a dangerous mix. Ferguson's account of his one-year stint in Tashkent is a fascinating read that brings to light scenarios that are as hilarious as they are infuriating.

It is not giving anything away to hint at the danger to persons: the author gets under suspicion to have been involved in the murder of one of the local recruits. As the story unfolds one can understand why - and it is a lot more complex than it appears on the surface. One major thread is the interaction of the team of local bureaucrats and experts with the international group brought in to work with them. Ferguson's characterization of the people involved is excellent. They come alive off the page, in particular those of "the other side". The sides of friend and foe are not always clear and can change more or less overnight. All the main characters are engaged in this World Bank-financed grand scheme to save the Aral Sea. It should be added that the Aral Sea once was the world's fourth largest inland body of water. Now only 20% of its 1960 size, experts fear that it will have disappeared by 2020. Urgent action was required and the Bank, with a team of foreign experts, stepped in to move the program forward. How much the local water leadership has been behind the project is another question to explore. Ferguson was hired to advise the public education component, meaning to get the publics to understand the dangers of the disappearing water and to engage them in possible remedies. Following him on his mission to connect with the five public education teams, to share ideas and to get them moving towards the common goal, the reader is drawn into mesh of intrigue, suspicion, greed and much more.

On his travels, Ferguson takes time out to visit historic cities like Samarkand and Bukhara (both in Uzbekistan), major centres on the ancient Silk Road from China to the West. His knowledge of the region's fascinating history is solid and he conveys what is useful without overburdening the reader. He has a gift for observation of places and ambiance just as much as of people. Having visited these cities many years ago and forgotten many details, I found Ferguson's vivid description brought them all back with ease. Whether he explores more remote spaces, climbs mountains or drinks tea with village elders; his astute observations and ability to put his impressions into words make this also a reliable travel guide.

Rich in culture and tradition based on a long and multifarious history of Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Tajik, Turkmen and Uzbek peoples, this region was artificially divided into five states by the Soviet regime in disregard of where the different peoples lived. The underlying regional rivalries and resentments have remained major traits of their relationships, at least as far as the soviet-style bureaucrats are concerned who still are in control of the water management systems.

Yet, the real and underlying issue of this book are the dangers to the region's fragile ecosystems. Exacerbated by Soviet-controlled industrial development paralleled by mismanagement of its water resources, the dangers to the Aral Sea and its environment have been ignored for decades. The region is fast running out of water to sustain its growing population. It is an object lesson for similar emerging crises elsewhere. Yet, politics and power games continue to overrule environmental protection requirements. Increased international interests in the region, not only due to its position close to Afghanistan but also because of its natural gas reserves, have brought international agencies like the World Bank on the scene. Reading Ferguson's honest account of their involvement raises important questions and one has to wonder whether this venture was a good choice. [Friederike Knabe, Ottawa Canada]

A great book about the end of the world, and the politics that will take us there.

What a wonderful book. The history ancient and modern of the five ...Stans, the former soviet republics, that form central asia, is blended with the author's own story of being trapped in a topsy-turvey wonderland (sort of like the US during the Bush administration) where entire peoples engage in an orgy of short-sighted self-destruction.
The author sounds the alarm not only about the plight of the Aral Sea but of the increasing shrinkage of fresh-water resources around the globe.
My only disapointment was finding that the author has not written another book since.

The Devil and the Disappearing Sea or, How I Tried to Stop the World's Worst Ecological Catastrophe is the true story of the Aral Sea disaster - an ecological breakdown in Central Asia that has caused the world's fourth largest body of water to shrink to 20% of its 1960 size. Experts predict that it will vanish by 2020, to the lethal detriment of the many people who need its water to survive. Author Rob Ferguson went to work on an environmental project to save the Aral Sea in January 2000; at every turn he met corruption, bureaucratic obstacles, inefficient local environmental authorities who cared more about protecting their own pride than the vanishing sea, and the Russian mafia. By the time he was forced to leave Central Asia, he was under suspicion for murder. The Devil and the Disappearing Sea weaves the sad but true story with dark comic flare, and is wildly entertaining even as it is disheartening about hope for humanity's ability to co-exist with nature. Perhaps most terrifying is the author's measured predictions of a future global water crisis, as ecological mismanagement expands deserts and overwhelms fresh water supplies. Though The Devil and the Disappearing Sea is written to bring its message especially to lay readers, this cautionary tale is also emphatically recommended for ecological and environmental studies lists, and a "must-read" for anyone involved in an environmental conservation project, particularly those taking place in unfamiliar cultures overseas.

Grim topic, great book. The tale of Ferguson's year of living dangerously as an environmentalist in post-Communist (but not post-corruption) Uzbekistan is part thriller, part work of reportage and part gripping traveller's tale.

Ferguson's witty, sardonic and humane narrative exposes both the environmental devastation wrought on the Aral Sea by corruption, greed and bad planning and the tragicomic realpolitik involved in international development projects.

Despite the mounting frustrations of his stymied job and the corruption and crime he recounts -- including a brutal murder -- Ferguson writes with real affection for Central Asia and its people. The characters are vividly drawn, and the book is dotted with sharp vignettes of the fabled cities of the Silk Road. I hope a British edition is available soon.

4)

* charging farmers more for irrigation water to reduce waste and encourage a shift to less water-intensive crops

* decreasing irrigation water quotas

* introducing water-saving technologies, at a cost of at least $50 million

* developing a regional integrated water management plan

* planting protective forest belts

* using underground water to supplement irrigation water and to lower the water table to reduce water-logging and salinization

* improving health services

* slowing the area's rapid population growth

5)

* 20 of 24 fish species have disappeared and boats are now sitting on dry land

* All of this has caused the job loss for about 60,000

* farmers are also having problems with "salt rain" which is salt from salt deserts is spread up to 190 miles on nearby farms

* This is causing problems for farmers trying to raise crops such as cotton, fruit, and rice.

6) We believe that this is a very unfortunate situation. The Aral Sea has been receiving a dramatically less amount of river water causing the sea level to drop by 50 feet since 1960. Also, it was necessary for the farmers to use to water for irrigation to survive. This whole disaster was pretty much inevitable and therefore makes the situation that much more heartbreaking. The people in this area just cannot catch a break.