Kazakh's biggest lake under threat

A leading Kazakh environmentalist has warned that the country's biggest lake is dying because its water resources are being misused.

Mels Eleusizov, of the Nature Party, told a press conference in the southern capital Almaty today that the surface area of Lake Balkash, in the south west of the country, had shrunk by two thousand square kilometres in the past twenty years.

Mr Eleusizov said the situation had been caused by overuse of water by local agricultural and industrial enterprises. He said the problem had been compounded by a recent decision by China to divert two rivers that feed into the lake for irrigation purposes. Lake Balkaksh is unique in ecological terms because it is comprised of half salt water and half fresh water. Mr Eleusizov said an international conference is to be held in Kazakhstan in October to discuss ways to save the lake.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service