Editing Uzbekistan (section)

== Geography ==
{{Main|Geography of Uzbekistan}}
{{See also|List of cities in Uzbekistan}}
[[File:UN-Uzbekistan.svg|thumb|upright=1.15|Map of Uzbekistan, including the former [[Aral Sea|Oral Dengiz]]]]
Uzbekistan has an area of {{convert|447400|km2|sqmi}}.<ref name="factbook" /> It is the 56th largest country in the world by area and the 40th by population.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/populations/ctypopls.htm |title=Countries of the world |publisher=worldatlas.com |access-date=2 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100507141553/http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/populations/ctypopls.htm |archive-date=7 May 2010}}</ref> Among the [[Commonwealth of Independent States|CIS]] countries, it is the fourth largest by area and the second largest by population.<ref name="uzstat"/>

Uzbekistan lies between latitudes [[37th parallel north|37°]] and [[46th parallel north|46° N]], and longitudes [[56th meridian east|56°]] and [[74th meridian east|74° E]]. It stretches {{convert|1425|km|mi}} from west to east and {{convert|930|km|mi}} from north to south. Bordering [[Kazakhstan]] and the [[Aralkum Desert]] (former [[Aral Sea]]) to the north and northwest, [[Turkmenistan]] and [[Afghanistan]] to the southwest, [[Tajikistan]] to the southeast, and [[Kyrgyzstan]] to the northeast, Uzbekistan is one of the largest [[Central Asia]]n states and the only Central Asian state to border all the other four. Uzbekistan also shares a short border (less than {{convert|150|km|mi|0|abbr=on|disp=or}}) with [[Afghanistan]] to the south.

Uzbekistan is a hot, dry, [[landlocked country]]. It is one of two [[doubly landlocked]] countries in the world - that is, a landlocked country completely surrounded by other landlocked countries.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/doubly-landlocked-countries.html |title=The World's Two Double Landlocked Countries |access-date=10 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.geographyrealm.com/landlocked-countries/ |title=Landlocked Countries |access-date=10 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.howderfamily.com/blog/double-landlocked-countries/ |title=Double Landlocked Countries |access-date=10 May 2025}}</ref> The second doubly landlocked country is [[Liechtenstein]]. In addition, due to its location within a series of [[endorheic basin]]s, none of its rivers lead to the sea. Less than 10% of its territory is intensively cultivated irrigated land in river valleys and oases. The [[Aral Sea]], which has been largely desiccated by cotton production established in the Soviet era, is considered one of the world's worst environmental disasters.<ref>{{cite news|title=Aral Sea 'one of the planet's worst environmental disasters'| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7554679/Aral-Sea-one-of-the-planets-worst-environmental-disasters.html|date=5 April 2010|access-date=1 May 2010| location=London|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100408214552/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7554679/Aral-Sea-one-of-the-planets-worst-environmental-disasters.html|archive-date=8 April 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The rest is the vast [[Kyzylkum Desert]] and mountains.
[[File:Koppen-Geiger Map UZB present.svg|thumb|upright=1.15|Köppen climate classification]]
According to a 1981 Soviet study, the highest point in Uzbekistan is Khazret Sultan at {{convert|4643|m|ft}} above sea level, in the southern part of the [[Gissar Range]] in the [[Surxondaryo Region]] on the border with Tajikistan, just northwest of [[Dushanbe]] (formerly called Peak of the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party).<ref name=uzstat>[http://enews.fergananews.com/article.php?id=2051 Uzbekistan will publish its own book of records&nbsp;– Ferghana.ru] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513010043/http://enews.fergananews.com/article.php?id=2051 |date=13 May 2013 }}. 18 July 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2009.</ref>

The climate in Uzbekistan is continental, with little [[precipitation]] expected annually (100–200 millimetres, or 3.9–7.9&nbsp;inches). The average summer high [[temperature]] tends to be 40&nbsp;°C {{nowrap|(104 °F)}}, while the average winter low temperature is around −23&nbsp;°C {{nowrap|(−9 °F)}}.<ref name="LoC:Climate">[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+uz0029) Climate] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080922172530/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd%2Fcstdy%3A%40field%28DOCID+uz0029%29|date=22 September 2008}}, Uzbekistan : Country Studies&nbsp;– Federal Research Division, Library of Congress.</ref>

Uzbekistan is home to six terrestrial ecoregions: [[Alai-Western Tian Shan steppe]], [[Gissaro-Alai open woodlands]], [[Badghyz and Karabil semi-desert]], [[Central Asian northern desert]], [[Central Asian riparian woodlands]], and [[Central Asian southern desert]].<ref name="DinersteinOlson2017">{{cite journal |last1=Dinerstein |first1=Eric |last2=Olson |first2=David |last3=Joshi |first3=Anup |last4=Vynne |first4=Carly |last5=Burgess |first5=Neil D. |last6=Wikramanayake |first6=Eric |last7=Hahn |first7=Nathan |last8=Palminteri |first8=Suzanne |last9=Hedao |first9=Prashant |last10=Noss|first10=Reed |last11=Hansen |first11=Matt |last12=Locke |first12=Harvey |last13=Ellis |first13=Erle C. |last14=Jones |first14=Benjamin |last15=Barber |first15=Charles Victor |last16=Hayes |first16=Randy |last17=Kormos |first17=Cyril |last18=Martin |first18=Vance |last19=Crist |first19=Eileen |last20=Sechrest |first20=Wes |last21=Price |first21=Lori |last22=Baillie |first22=Jonathan E. M. |last23=Weeden |first23=Don |last24=Suckling |first24=Kierán |last25=Davis |first25=Crystal |last26=Sizer |first26=Nigel |last27=Moore |first27=Rebecca |last28=Thau |first28=David |last29=Birch |first29=Tanya |last30=Potapov |first30=Peter |last31=Turubanova |first31=Svetlana |last32=Tyukavina |first32=Alexandra |last33=de Souza |first33=Nadia |last34=Pintea |first34=Lilian |last35=Brito |first35=José C. |last36=Llewellyn |first36=Othman A. |last37=Miller |first37=Anthony G. |last38=Patzelt |first38=Annette |last39=Ghazanfar |first39=Shahina A. |last40=Timberlake |first40=Jonathan |last41=Klöser |first41=Heinz |last42=Shennan-Farpón |first42=Yara |last43=Kindt |first43=Roeland |last44=Lillesø |first44=Jens-Peter Barnekow |last45=van Breugel |first45=Paulo |last46=Graudal |first46=Lars |last47=Voge |first47=Maianna |last48=Al-Shammari |first48=Khalaf F. |last49=Saleem |first49=Muhammad |display-authors=1 |title=An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm |journal=BioScience |volume=67 |issue=6 |year=2017 |pages=534–545 |issn=0006-3568 |doi=10.1093/biosci/bix014 |pmid=28608869 |pmc=5451287|doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Environment ===
[[File:Karakalpakstan Kyzyl Qala Cotton Picking.jpg|thumb|Cotton picking near [[Kyzyl-Kala]], [[Karakalpakstan]]]]
[[File:Water Stress, Top Countries (2020).svg|thumb|Uzbekistan is the seventh most water stressed country in the world.]]
Uzbekistan has a rich and diverse natural environment. However, decades of [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] policies in pursuit of greater [[cotton]] production have resulted in a catastrophic scenario with the agricultural industry being the main contributor to the pollution and devastation of both air and water in the country.<ref>"[http://countrystudies.us/uzbekistan/17.htm Environment] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208033959/http://countrystudies.us/uzbekistan/17.htm |date=8 December 2013 }}". In Glenn E. Curtis (Ed.), ''[http://countrystudies.us/uzbekistan Uzbekistan: A Country Study] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060923040626/http://countrystudies.us/uzbekistan/ |date=23 September 2006 }}''. Washington: Government Printing Office for the Library of Congress, 1996. Online version retrieved 2 May 2010.</ref>

[[File:AralSea1989 2014.jpg|thumb|left|Comparison of the [[Aral Sea]] between 1989 and 2014]]
The [[Aral Sea]] was once the fourth-largest inland sea on Earth, humidifying the surrounding air and irrigating the arid land.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.msf.org/msfinternational/invoke.cfm?objectid=6589D208-DC2C-11D4-B2010060084A6370&component=toolkit.article&method=full_html|title=Uzbekistan: Environmental disaster on a colossal scale|publisher=[[Médecins Sans Frontières]]|date=1 November 2000|access-date=2 May 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930020327/http://www.msf.org/msfinternational/invoke.cfm?objectid=6589D208-DC2C-11D4-B2010060084A6370&component=toolkit.article&method=full_html|archive-date=30 September 2007}}</ref> Since the 1960s, when the overuse of the Aral Sea water began, it has shrunk to about 10% of its former area and divided into parts, with only the southern part of the narrow western lobe of the [[South Aral Sea]] remaining permanently in Uzbekistan. Much of the water was and continues to be used for the [[Cotton production in Uzbekistan|irrigation of cotton fields]],<ref name="guardian"/> a crop requiring a large amount of water to grow.<ref>[http://www.ejfoundation.org/page146.html Aral Sea Crisis] Environmental Justice Foundation Report {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120407122425/http://www.ejfoundation.org/page146.html |date=7 April 2012 }}</ref>

Due to the Aral Sea loss, high salinity and contamination of the soil with [[heavy elements]] are especially widespread in [[Karakalpakstan]], the region of Uzbekistan adjacent to the Aral Sea. The bulk of the nation's water resources is used for farming, which accounts for nearly 84% of the water use and contributes to high [[soil salinity]]. Heavy use of [[pesticide]]s and [[fertiliser]]s for cotton growing further aggravates [[soil contamination]].<ref name="LoC:Climate"/>

[[File:Suv-ombori.gif|thumb|Map of flooded areas as a result of the collapse of the [[Sardoba Reservoir]]]]

According to the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), [[climate risk]] management in Uzbekistan should consider its ecological safety.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20150926101214/http://www.ca-crm.info/en/country-climate-risk-profiles/country-climate-risk-profile-uzbekistan Climate Risk Knowledge Management Platform for Central Asia, UNDP]}}. Ca-crm.info. Retrieved on 29 November 2015.</ref>

Numerous oil and gas deposits have been discovered in the south of the country.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iea.org/reports/uzbekistan-energy-profile |title=Uzbekistan energy profile |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=April 2020 |website=IEA |publisher=International Energy Agency |access-date=22 March 2022 |quote=Uzbekistan is one of the world's largest natural gas producers, annually producing around 60 billion cubic metres (bcm)... |archive-date=22 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322192216/https://www.iea.org/reports/uzbekistan-energy-profile |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/UZBEKISTAN+-+Gas+Production+%26+Reserves.-a0123542903 |title=UZBEKISTAN - Gas Production & Reserves. |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=18 October 2004 |website=The Free Library |publisher=Farlex Inc |access-date=22 March 2022 |quote=The fields in Kokdumalak, Shurtan, Olan, Urgin and South-Tandirchi - all in south-western Uzbekistan - are being developed rapidly. Now they account for more than 90% of the country's output of gas and condensate.}}</ref>

Uzbekistan has also been home to seismic activity, as evidenced by the [[1902 Andijan earthquake]], [[2011 Fergana Valley earthquake]], and [[1966 Tashkent earthquake]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Country Facts (Uzbekistan) |url=https://www.un.int/uzbekistan/uzbekistan/country-facts |publisher=United Nations |access-date=10 May 2019}}</ref>

A dam collapse at [[Sardoba Reservoir]] in May 2020 flooded 35,000 hectares of land. Six people died and 111,000 evacuated with recovery estimates over 1.5 trillion som. The devastation extended into areas inside neighbouring [[Kazakhstan]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Simonov |first1=Eugene |title=Uzbekistan dam collapse was a disaster waiting to happen |url=https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/regional-cooperation/uzbekistan-dam-collapse/ |website=The Third Pole |access-date=29 December 2021 |date=23 June 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Image of the Week - Dam Failure in Uzbekistan |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc52hgvr2QU |website=YouTube | date=9 December 2020 |access-date=29 December 2021 |archive-date=29 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211229120043/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc52hgvr2QU |url-status=live }}</ref>