'Miseries of the Balkhash': Fears for Kazakhstan's special lake

Rusted vessels rest on the shore of Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan on June 18, 2024. Fisherman Alexei Grebennikov steers his boat on Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan on June 18, 2024. "There are fewer and fewer fish," he says. "It's catastrophic; the lake is silting up." Scientist Olga Sharipova gestures in a laboratory in Balkhash, Kazakhstan, on June 19, 2024. Sharipova is studying changes in Lake Balkhash. A man fishes in Lake Balkhash in the town of Balkhash, Kazakhstan, on June 19, 2024. Kazakhstan's Lake Balkhash drainage basin includes rivers originating in China. A man jumps into the water of Lake Balkhash in front of Kazakhmys copper smelting plant in the town of Balkhash, Kazakhstan, on June 20, 2024.

Seen from the sky, with its turquoise waters stretching out into the desert expanses in the shape of a crescent, you can see why they call Lake Balkhash the "pearl of Kazakhstan."