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Khiva is a UNESCO World Heritage site with ancient mudbrick buildings and a complete city wall. These are threatened from below by water and salt, and we seek to understand how the deterioration is happening and can be stopped. We have done investigations in the subsoil over several years to determine that destruction is caused by waterlogging, shifts in the ground, termites, and other damage. The damage has been caused by agricultural practices, especially leaky irrigation systems. Some of Khiva's buildings are becoming structurally unsound from water damage. Our studies at several sites confirm that water diversion will be necessary to prevent further infiltration of salt and water. Khiva's legacy is contained in the ancient buildings which are an important part of Silk Road history. Our research contributes to the understanding how to protect mudbrick buildings from environmental factors and deformation processes.

Bakhtiyor Abdullayev is the leader of the Samarkand region branch of eco movement, a green political party in Uzbekistan and professor of Soil Science at Samarkand Agricultural Institute. Dr. Abdullaev earned his Ph.D. in Agriculture in 1990. He held the position of vice dean for academics for several years. He actively participates in the ecological political movement at the regional and national levels.

From the lead editor's nearly forty years of work on environmental disaster, there is a basic rule of thumb that has never disappointed (Edelstein, 2000, 2004). No matter how severe the direct impacts of a disaster are, at least half the stress comes from the secondary psychosocial impacts involved in dealing with the aftermath. In the case of the Aral Sea, most of the stress is back loaded. The population of Karkalpakstan, particularly those living by and working on the sea, was literally left high and dry, suffering substantial psychosocial and health impacts.¹