‘Give an Uzbek a desert and he’ll make it a garden,’ quotes historian Akmal, gesturing to the seams of lush green vegetation that weave through the dusty landscape as we drive to the ancient city of Bukhara. But to inhabitants of Moynak, a town formerly on the shores of the Aral Sea, this old Uzbek proverb rings hollow. Mismanagement of agricultural and irrigation projects during Soviet times shrank the Aral Sea to less than half its former size, leaving ships stranded and local fishing communities high and dry. The faded statues of muscular female farmers, carrying armfuls of wheat and fish, are the only signs of the town’s former fertility.
The Soviet Union’s intensive production of cotton caused Moynak’s desertification. Known locally as ‘white gold’, cotton has remained a key export since Uzbekistan’s independence from the USSR in 1991. Drawing international condemnation for its use of forced and child labour, the cotton sector generates more than $1 billion in annual revenue. Most of this money is pocketed by government officials and their corrupt cronies in the capital, Tashkent. The yearly cotton harvest that forces students, teachers and other public workers into the fields was previously overseen by Uzbekistan’s new president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who served as prime minister from 2003.
