Abstract

Shallowing, desiccation, and degradation of freshwater and salt lakes and inland seas are among the major environmental problems at the beginning of the 21^st century. Lakes or inland seas are facing either a severe anthropogenic pressure in some form or a rapid change of its physical conditions owing to regional/global climate change. We address the most known examples of the degradation of the lakes all over the world, and then we focus on two Central Asia case studies—the Aral Sea and the Kara-Bogaz-Gol Bay.