Kenya's Lake Turkana is vital for local wildlife and livelihoods, but Africa's tallest dam is going to choke it to provide much-needed power and water
FOUR is an unlucky number for lakes. Once the fourth largest in the world, the Aral Sea is now a shadow of its former self. As the then Soviet Union diverted the rivers that feed it to grow cotton, its shoreline retreated by more than 100 kilometres in places. Today, in the middle of the dried-up lake bed, lie two small hyper-saline lakes. All around, climates are more extreme, dust storms spread salt across the land, a rich fishery that once supported a fleet of trawlers has disappeared entirely – and millions of people left high and dry have been forced to move elsewhere.
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