When lakes decline, can they recover?
Large inland water bodies like the Caspian Sea and Lake Constance are facing significant water level declines due to climate change and human water management. While some lakes show potential for recovery, others face existential threats that could impact millions of people.
Why it matters
The shrinking of major lakes poses severe risks to global ecosystems, local economies, and water security for a quarter of the world's population.
While some of the world's largest lakes are shrinking dramatically, others show that recovery is possible.
https://p.dw.com/p/5JD67 The Caspian Sea is under enormous pressure Image: Hossein Beris/Middle East Images/IMAGO Advertisement Some of the world's largest lakes could shrink substantially within this century, with far-reaching consequences for ecosystems and roughly a quarter of the global population living in affected regions.
Although restoration efforts have proved successful in some cases, many inland bodies of water face extreme challenges.
Despite its name, the Caspian Sea is actually a lake. Bordered by Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, it is the largest inland water body on Earth. But its surface area has been rapidly receding since the 1990s.
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