LocationsThe Woman and the Sea: A journey toward revival and a sustainable future
June 30, 2025
Ainakul Baimakhanova
"I was born in Kyzylorda and moved to the Aral district nearly 40 years ago after getting married. Even back then, the sea had already receded, and many locals were leaving to search for work. The environmental situation was alarming: adults and children frequently fell seriously ill,"
recalls Ainakul Baimakhanova.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has called the Aral Sea crisis a slowly unfolding ecological disaster triggered by human activity. The sea’s desiccation led to devastating consequences: land degradation, desertification, biodiversity loss, and regional climate change. Toxic dust from the dried-up seabed was carried hundreds of kilometers by the wind, polluting farmland, reducing crop yields, and worsening air quality. These effects took a severe toll on public health, leading to a rise in illnesses. Like thousands of others in the region, Ainakul experienced the consequences firsthand.
Since 1986, Ainakul has walked a long path, from working at the Aral Fisheries cooperative to becoming the public organization Aral Tenizy's director in 2008. From then on, she began advocating for her community, seeking public attention and investments through international projects and funding initiatives to address the region’s challenges.
“Our organization works with nearly 300 volunteers from local communities. We constantly contact fishermen and residents of 15 villages surrounding the Aral Sea. We visit them, listen to their needs and concerns, and work together to find solutions. Thanks to the support of the United Nations Development Programme in Kazakhstan, the Global Environment Facility, and other international organizations, we have implemented water conservation, biodiversity protection, and climate adaptation projects. These projects created jobs in every village and improved the local economy,”Ainakul shares.
Recognizing the importance of agriculture to the Aral district’s economy, Ainakul turned her attention to farming. Livestock breeding is the primary livelihood for most families in the area. With more than a thousand small farms, livestock numbers grow each year. However, the pastures, the foundation of animal feed, face severe degradation, salinization, and desertification.
For her new project, Ainakul chose the remote village of Karateren, home to nearly 2,000 residents, most of them unemployed women. Every one of the village’s 300 households raises livestock.
“Locals in Karateren told us they couldn’t afford modern technologies, couldn’t develop infrastructure, or buy equipment and forage seeds. Most of their animal feed was brought in from Kostanay, which made it very expensive. Our project brought together five local farms that started growing their forage crops in our region. Last year, villagers already felt the savings, and they have planted again this year. Now, neighboring villages are taking an interest and visiting to learn from their experience,” says Ainakul.
Recognizing the importance of agriculture to the Aral district’s economy, Ainakul turned her attention to farming
The next step was launching a small plant that produces compressed livestock feed, capable of producing approximately 800 kilograms per day.
“We purchased the equipment through a grant from the Global Environment Facility’s Small Grants Programme. Now, the mini-plant supplies feed three nearby villages and serves as a model for other farmers.”
Fishing was once the heartbeat of the Aral region. Until the 1960s, the Aral Sea ranked third among the Soviet Union’s inland bodies of water and provided about 13 percent of the total fish catch. However, by the 1980s, rising salinity and water loss had decimated fish populations, and by 1984, fishing had ceased completely. Ainakul remembers that after 2005, when work to restore the North Aral Sea began, fish gradually returned. Life changed for the better:
“Today, the sea is divided into 18 fishing zones with 40–50 fishers working in each. Eight fish processing plants and more than ten mini-processing facilities have been built. Over 3,000 people are now employed in the fishing sector.”
Ainakul engages local communities actively
According to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, the volume of water in the North Aral Sea reached 22.1 billion cubic meters as of early 2022 (up from 18.9 billion in 2021). By the end of 2025, it is expected to reach 23.4 billion. The expanding volume and area of the sea have reduced salinity and allowed the recovery of 22 fish species. Annual fish catch now goes up to 8,000 tons.
As the industry revived, new needs emerged. One solution was a fish hatchery launched by Ainakul in 2020.
“We already had a state-owned hatchery, and this new facility became an important supplement. Fishers now purchase fry and fingerlings to stock their fishing grounds. However, with the growth of fish farming and processing, we began facing a shortage of skilled workers. So we launched a new initiative to train women and youth in fish processing,”Ainakul explains.
In 2023, Ainakul’s team cleaned about 20 lakes of old fishing nets and plastic debris.
“Tons of plastic pile up along the shoreline. We purchased special equipment through one of our projects and cleared the area. Then, we opened a mini-plant to recycle plastic and polymer waste into paving tiles — a first for our region.”
Ainakul Baimakhanova’s story demonstrates that one woman facing an ecological catastrophe can rally her community, attract international support, and turn crisis into an opportunity. Her journey shows that development is possible even under the most challenging conditions — if people work together, believe in their cause, and support one another.
“For me, it’s not just about solving today’s problems,” she says. “It’s about building a sustainable future for our children and grandchildren. When I see jobs being created in rural areas and people eager to learn and grow, I know it’s all been worth it.”
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