Analyses the probable role of climatic and anthropic causes in past, present and future drastic bifurcations of lakes and seas on the basis of historical data, a vast amount of modern data obtained from extensive field surveys and remote sensing and extrapolations to the future with the help of sustainable development models and mitigation policies.
1. What do we know about dead, dying and endangered lakes and seas.- 2. Water management aspects of Amu Darya.- 3. Morphological changes in the Aral Sea. Satellite imagery and water balance model.- 4. Aral Sea basin evolution: geodynamic aspect.- 5. The Aral Sea crisis.- 6. Hydrobiology of the Aral Sea.- 7. Main features of the Caspian Sea hydrology.- 8. Hydrobiology of the Caspian Sea.- 9. Environmental contamination of the Caspian Sea. An overview of recent findings.- 10. 1000 years of environmental history of Lake Issyk-Kul.- 11. The Dead Sea as a dying lake.- 12. The continual degradation of Lake Corangamite, Australia.- 13. Lake Chad: a challenging environment.- 14. Genetic traces of environmental variations in ancient lakes.- 15. Hypoxia and the physics of the Louisiana Coastal Current.- List of Participants.