ENTRY DESCRIPTION
The Aral Sea in Central Asia (between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan) was the scene of one of the most dramatic ecological man-made disasters. In the 1950s, the Soviet Union launched a program to promote the cultivation of cotton diverting water from the two tributaries of the lake: Syr Darya and Amu Darya. Deprived of the contribution of water, the lake begun a progressive and unstoppable reduction with enormous ecological and economic consequences. The climatic changes emphasized a progressive desertification of the whole region. The increased salinity caused the extinction of all living species and consequently the local economy essentially based on fishing was canceled with forced emigration of the majority of population.
Today in Moynac (Uzbekistan), once the main port of the region, the carcasses of fishing boats lie rusted on the dried-up lake bottom, silent witnesses to the human and ecological catastrophe.

AUTHOR
He approached photography at the age of 15. As a professor of Geography at the University of Bologna, Italy (now retired) he traveled all over the word, making the travel reportage the main reference for his photographic production. Among the regions visited, Africa, Latin America and Antarctica provided the strongest photographic emotions.
The other great passion is nature: a love that ranges from the scientific production and from the involvement in wildlife conservation to nature and macro photography.

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