Environmental issues in Kazakhstan sea’s already grave pollution. International programs to save the Aral and Caspian seas have not received meaningful cooperation from Kazakhstan or other member nations. The Aral Sea covers with Kazakhstan to the north and Uzbekistan to the south. Soviet irrigation projects begun in the 1960s and other environmental challenges have severely depleted this once massive inland sea and by 2007, it had shrunk to 10 percent of its original size. The efforts included Syr Darya Control & Northern Aral Sea (NAS) project. The $86 million NAS project, funded jointly by the World Bank through a loan of $65 million and
Science and technology in Uzbekistan 14.1 "Note: PhD graduates in science cover life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics and statistics, and computing; PhDs in engineering also cover manufacturing and construction. For Central Asia, the generic term of PhD also encompasses Candidate of Science and Doctor of Science degrees. Data are unavailable for Turkmenistan." In 2014, Uzbekistan had a population of 29.3 million, compared to 16.6 million for Kazakhstan. The two most populous countries of Central Asia logically count the most researchers: just over 30 000 for Uzbekistan and 17 000 for Kazakhstan (in head counts), compared to a little over 2 000 for each of Kyrgyzstan