Challenges of transboundary water resources management in Central Asia

Abstract

Central Asian major river basins link the countries of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Water management in Central Asia continues to be the most important transboundary environmental issue and the biggest problem remains how to allocate water for upstream hydropower production and downstream irrigation. Disagreements between the upstream and downstream states have increased regional tensions and slowed development plans. National responses to existing cooperative opportunities are essentially driven by a policy of national self-sufficiency in energy and water. While it is reasonable to be concerned about water and/or energy security, it is also critical to understand that a policy of self-sufficiency incurs substantial costs for all. As long as self-sufficiency dominates the policy agenda, the benefits of cooperation will not materialize. International water law could provide a rational avenue toward achieving international consensus on both use and allocation of water resources in the basin, with international legal agreements to reinforce the consensus. Incentives to cooperate through the application of the benefit-sharing concept as a development model in the basin would include decreased costs and increased gains in many dimensions of regional cooperation, including the benefits that stem from better agricultural practices and its competitiveness, joint developing of the region’s energy resources, and better management of regional environmental risks.