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[People]
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[Economy]
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[Defense]
Central Asia, north of Afghanistan
Commonwealth of Independent States - Central Asian States
slightly larger than California
total 6,221 km, Afghanistan 137 km, Kazakhstan 2,203 km, Kyrgyzstan 1,099
km, Tajikistan 1,161 km, Turkmenistan 1,621 km
Uzbekistan borders the Aral Sea (420 km)
mostly midlatitude desert, long, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid
grassland in east
mostly flat-to-rolling sandy desert with dunes; broad, flat intensely
irrigated river valleys along course of Amu Darya and Sirdaryo Rivers;
Fergana Valley in east surrounded by mountainous Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan;
shrinking Aral Sea in west
natural gas, petroleum, coal, gold, uranium, silver, copper, lead and zinc,
tungsten, molybdenum
drying up of the Aral Sea is resulting in growing concentrations of chemical
pesticides and natural salts; these substances are then blown from the
increasingly exposed lake bed and contribute to desertification; water
pollution from industrial wastes and the heavy use of fertilizers and
pesticides is the cause of many human health disorders; increasing soil
salinization; soil contamination from agricultural chemicals, including DDT
international agreements:
party to - Climate Change, Environmental Modification, Ozone Layer
Protection
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