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Paper abstract:

The article is devoted to the history, economy and environmental issues of the Muynak region and its inhabitants through the study of special literature and field research of the author as part of an ethnographic expedition. The study revealed that the formation and development of the Muynak region took place depending on the planned economy of the former USSR. In this work, to some extent, you can look at the real transformation of the environment and mode of life of the inhabitants of Muynak. While observing and interviewing, we saw and felt how seriously the consequences of the "Aral" crisis affected the environment and the daily life of the region. We chose the Muynak region for study by two reasons: firstly, the Muynak region was most affected by the disappearance of the Aral Sea and suffered from an environmental disaster, and secondly, the former Muynak port and its surrounding have a unique culture associated with fishing, with which they shared our informants, getting involved in their memories and nostalgic mindsets. Special literature shows that the sea level has always fluctuated due to changes in the channels of the Amudarya River, which also led to the disappearance of many large lakes until beginning of XX centary. However, these changes were under a nature factor the water balance has never violated. Until the middle of the 20th century, the policy of a planned economy, in particular, the five-year plan to "get and get everything at once" caused damage to the ecological situation, becoming the main anthropogenic factor. Despite the rise of the agricultural economy in the former state farms and collective farms, according to respondents, the climate and social life are radically changing after the crisis due to non-disturbance of water resources.