Central Eurasian Environmental and Aral Studies (CEEAS) Research Group
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Envir. Justice Issues Home | Karakalpakstan Envir. Case Study | Karakalpakstan Health Assessment
One of the most understudied elements of the Aral Sea disaster and Central Eurasian environmental issues is environmental justice. Environmental injustice is defined as when a group receives a disproportionate share of the burden from an environmental problem (such as exposure to hazardous wastes) or when a group does not receive a proportionate share of an environmental good (access to adequate freshwater). Thus, identification of the groups bearing a disproportionate share of environmental harm and study of the causes of these injustices have rarely been tackled in academia, among development practitioners, or by Central Eurasian governments. This site section includes some initial assessment of the types and causes of environmental injustice faced by the population in the Autonomous Region of Karakalpakstan in Uzbekistan. It also will include a comparative assessment of health impacts on the population of Karakalpakstan and the population of the Owens Valley, California. This is a comparison of the parallel ecological problems of excessive water resource diversion leading to the dessication of the Aral Sea and Owens Lake, respectively. The latter was the topic of an important legal battle in California only recently settled. Future analysis for this website will likely deal with the legal aspects of environmental injustice and introduction to other regional environmental injustice issues.