A man carrying agricultural tools leads his camel home across what was once part of the Aral Sea seabed. The region has faced many ecological and economic problems since the Aral Sea began to recede over forty years ago. The rivers supplying the Aral lake were pumped dry during the 1960s to irrigate local cotton crop, the so-called "white gold" of Central Asia. Now the water has receded over 100 kilometres.
