Geography of Tajikistan

The lower elevations of Tajikistan are divided into northern and southern regions by a complex of three mountain chains that constitute the westernmost extension of the massive

The Fergana Valley, the most densely populated region in Central Asia irrigated by the Syr Darya in its upper course, spreads across the north-eastern arm of Uzbekistan and Northern Tajikistan. This long valley, which lies between two mountain ranges — the Kuramin Range in the north and the Turkestan Range in the south, reaches its lowest elevation of 320 metres (1,050 ft) at Khujand on the Syr Darya. Rivers bring rich soil deposits into the Fergana Valley from the surrounding mountains, creating a series of fertile oases that have long been prized for agriculture.^[3]

Drainage

In Tajikistan's dense river network, the largest rivers are the Syr Darya and the

Tajikistan's climate is continental, subtropical, and semiarid, with some desert areas. The climate changes drastically according to elevation, however. The Fergana Valley and other lowlands are shielded by mountains from Arctic air masses, but temperatures in that region still drop below freezing for more than 100 days a year. In the subtropical southwestern lowlands, which have the highest average temperatures, the climate is arid, although some sections now are irrigated for farming. At Tajikistan's lower elevations, the average temperature range is 23 to 30 °C (73.4 to 86.0 °F) in July and −1 to 3 °C (30.2 to 37.4 °F) in January. In the eastern Pamirs, the average July temperature is 5 to 10 °C (41 to 50 °F), and the average January temperature is −15 to −20 °C (5 to −4 °F).^[6]

Tajikistan is the wettest of the Central Asian republics,^[7] with the average annual precipitation for the Kafernigan and Vakhsh valleys in the south being around 500 to 600 mm (19.7 to 23.6 in), and up to 1,500 mm (59.1 in) in the mountains^{[citation needed]}. At the Fedchenko Glacier, as much as 223.6 cm (88.0 in) of snow falls each year^{[citation needed]}. Only in the northern Fergana Valley and in the rain shadow areas of the eastern Pamirs is precipitation as low as in other parts of Central Asia: in the eastern Pamirs less than 100 mm (3.94 in) falls per year^{[citation needed]}. Most precipitation occurs in the winter and spring.

Environmental problems

Most of Tajikistan's environmental problems are associated with the agricultural policies imposed on the country during the Soviet period. By 1991 heavy use of mineral fertilizers and agricultural chemicals was a major cause of pollution in the republic. Among those chemicals were DDT, banned by international convention, and several defoliants and herbicides. In addition to the damage they have done to the air, land, and water, the chemicals have contaminated the cottonseeds whose oil is used widely for cooking. Cotton farmers and their families are at particular risk from the overuse of agricultural chemicals, both from direct physical contact in the field and from the use of the branches of cotton plants at home for fuel. All of these toxic sources are believed to contribute to a high incidence of maternal and child mortality and birth defects. In 1994 the infant mortality rate was 43.2 per 1,000 births, the second highest rate among former Soviet republics. The rate in 1990 had been 40.0 infant deaths per 1,000 births.^[2]

Cotton requires particularly intense irrigation. In Tajikistan's cotton-growing regions, farms were established in large, semiarid tracts and in tracts reclaimed from the desert, but cotton's growing season is summer, when the region receives virtually no rainfall. The 50 percent increase in cotton cultivation mandated by Soviet and post-Soviet agricultural planners between 1964 and 1994 consequently overtaxed the regional water supply. Poorly designed irrigation networks led to massive runoff, which increased soil salinity and carried toxic agricultural chemicals downstream to other fields, the Aral Sea, and populated areas of the region.^[2]

By the 1980s, nearly 90 percent of water use in Central Asia was for agriculture. Of that quantity, nearly 75 percent came from the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, the chief tributaries of the Aral Sea on the Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan border to the northwest of Tajikistan. As the desiccation of the Aral Sea came to international attention in the 1980s, water-use policy became a contentious issue between Soviet republics such as Tajikistan, where the main rivers rise, and those farther downstream, including Uzbekistan. By the end of the Soviet era, the central government had relinquished central control of water-use policy for Central Asia, but the republics had not agreed on an allocation policy.^[2]

Industry also causes

In 1992 the Supreme Soviet of Tajikistan established a Ministry of Environmental Protection. However, the enforcement activity of the ministry was limited severely by the political upheavals that plagued Tajikistan in its first years of independence. The only registered private environmental group in Tajikistan in the early 1990s was a chapter of the Social-Ecological Alliance, the largest informal environmental association in the former Soviet Union. The Tajik branch's main functions have been to conduct environmental research and to organize protests against the Roghun Hydroelectric Plant project.^[2]

Natural hazards: Earthquakes are of varying degrees and are frequent. Flooding and landslides sometimes occur during the annual Spring thaw.^[15]

Environment - current issues: inadequate sanitation facilities; increasing levels of soil salinity; industrial pollution; excessive pesticides; part of the basin of the shrinking Aral Sea suffers from severe overutilization of available water for irrigation and associated pollution.

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Environmental Modification, Ozone Layer Protection

Pamir Mountains

Tajikistan is home to some of the highest mountains in the world, including the

The massive mountain ranges are cut by hundreds of

The Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan lie in

The principal rivers of Central Asia, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, both flow through Tajikistan, fed by melting snow and glaciers from the mountains of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. There are over 900 rivers in Tajikistan longer than 10 kilometres (6.2 mi).

The largest rivers of Tajikistan are:

Lakes

About 2% of the country's area is covered by lakes:^[15]

Area and boundaries

Area

• total: 142,600 km² (55,100 sq mi)
  • country rank in the world: 94th
• land: 141,510 km² (54,640 sq mi)
• water: 2,590 km² (1,000 sq mi)

Area — comparative

• slightly smaller than Nepal
• Australia comparative: slightly more than twice the size of Tasmania
• Canada comparative: slightly less than twice the size of New Brunswick
• United Kingdom comparative: slightly larger than England
• United States comparative: slightly larger than North Carolina
• EU comparative: slightly larger than Greece

Land boundaries

• total: 3,651 km (2,269 mi)
• border countries: Afghanistan 1,206 km (749 mi), China 414 km (257 mi), Kyrgyzstan 870 km (540 mi), Uzbekistan 1,161 km (721 mi)

Coastline

0 km (0 mi) (

landlocked

)

Elevation extremes

• lowest point: Syr Darya 300 m (980 ft)
• highest point: Ismoil Somoni Peak 7,495 m (24,590 ft)

Other peaks include:

Land use (2006 data):[16]
arable land: 6%
permanent crops: 1%
pastures: 21%
non-agricultural land: 72%
including forests and woodland: 3%

Irrigated land:
2006: 7,235 km² (2,793 sq mi)

Total renewable water resources: 99.7 cu km (1997)

Natural hazards: earthquakes, floods^[15]

References

External links

• More information about the lakes of Tajikistan via the Tajikistan Gateway
• On enclaves in Central Asia, incl. Tajikistan

39°00′N 71°00′E / 39.000°N 71.000°E / 39.000; 71.000