Aralkum - A man made desert

• Photographer
  Simone Tramonte, Italy
• Website
  http://

One of the planet's worst environmental disasters is technically
ongoing with very little efforts to make people and government aware
of it: since it involves the most important resource on Earth – water –
its magnitude is even more overwhelming.
The Aral Sea was once one of the largest lakes in the world: most of
our printed atlas still report its size as it was before the sixties, when
the entire surface of 26.000 square miles began to shrink: since the
surrounding areas were mostly desert, the Soviet government started
to transform the environment by diverting the course of the two main
rivers who fed the Aral, in order to grow cereals and cotton.
The lake was doomed: thirty years later the fishing industry, was
destroyed. Unemployment and poverty changed the economy of the
entire region.
Today less than 10% of the lake surface is still visible.

Born in Rome in 1976, where he lives and works.
Since 2007 is part of "Officine Fotografiche" photo roman association that acts as a training center for photographers of all levels, where he was, and continues to attend courses, seminars and workshops to professional level.
In 2009 participated in a workshop organized by the city of Palermo Mother India School a center for photography, created and directed by Shobha Battaglia photographer for the Contrasto.
Some of his works have been reports recently published in National Geographic, Lonely Planet and The Trip Magazine.