Water Resources in Central Asia: International Context

This volume “Water Resources in Central Asia: International Context” is the first of the three volumes devoted to water resources in Central Asia which will be published in the book series “The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry,” Springer. In this volume we gathered 17 chapters describing the history of water resources management, the legal framework of interstate cooperation on water resources, the institutional cooperation on water resources, the cooperation and conflicts among the Central Asian countries, the application of UNECE environmental conventions, water-energy-food-environment nexus in Central Asia as well as the water resources policy of the USA, Germany, China, and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan in Central Asia.

For several millennia the water resources had been the key issue for the development of Central Asia. They were used for the development of agriculture, water supply, fishery, navigation, and, generally, the national economies. They were also natural barriers for protection from enemies. With the economic development and population growth, the water had become the most deficit resource. Taking into consideration the above, the history of water relations in Central Asia was fraught with acute struggle for water that was always the most vital resource in such arid intercontinental region located far from seas and oceans.

With time, the population growth and progress in science and technology had changed the approaches to water resource management: construction of irrigation canals and hydraulic structures was developing, and new reservoirs and waterworks for water accumulation and redistribution were built. In general, the hydraulic structures had been built in Central Asia for many centuries and reflected the technological level.

Water resources were used to meet the social and economic needs of the population. Waterways contributed much to the establishment of the Great Silk Road and Great Indian Road. They were very important in military terms as the troops were deployed by rivers.

Waterways in Central Asia were also used for navigation which played a great role in the development of economy and trade, but the navigation here had some specific feature – it was of a closed nature which made it purely regional.

The approaches to water resource management have not changed for many centuries. The extending irrigated lands required more and more water which initiated the construction of hydraulic structures. As a result, in the second half of the twentieth century, the irrigated areas in Central Asia really increased permitting these countries to become less dependent on purchase of cotton, to resolve their food supply problems, to provide the required quantities of water to the population, and to establish market relations in industry. Such policy has led to practically complete intake of water resources which deficit had intensified by the 1980s.

More than 20 years after emergence of new independent states in the Aral Sea Basin, the legal basis for transboundary interstate cooperation needs strengthening and enhancement. The remnants from the Soviet legal settings are still recognizable in the todays biding legal framework for transboundary cooperation and presented in the chapter. Since the riparian states underwent in-depth changes in social-economical terms, it is needed to introduce the modern legal principles and procedures to facilitate the management and protection of transboundary waters in Central Asia. The current legal framework binding for the Aral Sea riparian states is made of different levels of regulations. The regional (Aral Sea Basin) level of interstate cooperation is based on the both (1) international water law (incl. application of the global multilateral environmental agreements and relevant multilateral agreements adopted within the Commonwealth of Independent States) and (2) multilateral legal acts adopted by the riparian states restricted within the scope to the Aral Sea Basin. There are also a number of multilateral and bilateral transboundary agreements covering the interstate cooperation on the sub-basins of Syr Daria and Amu Daria. The assessment of existing legal framework in terms of inclusion of the modern principles and procedures of the international water law is presented in the chapter.

The mandate, structure and functioning of Central Asian institutions of water resources management reflect the historic circumstances of their creation and evolution. Established on the remnants of the Soviet system of water resources management, the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) conserved the priority of irrigation over the energy sector and environment protection. Despite clearly expressed political will by the 2009 IFAS Summit, member states were unable to improve the obsolete legal basis and institutional weaknesses of the Fund. IFAS should undergo a thorough reform to enable Central Asian states to effectively address present and future challenges, like climate change adaptation.

Nowadays many scientists and specialists say that in the twenty-first century, not hydrocarbons but water will be the key issue for economic development, well-being, and quality of life. This fully applies to the Central Asian countries where historically the problems of water resources have been in the focus of attention as the main factors determining stability in all sectors of the economy. This is connected with their geographical location and specific natural conditions. The Central Asian states locate in a region with severe climate featuring very high temperatures, uneven spatial distribution of water resources, and their insufficiency as no mechanism for addressing water issues is available. By the early twenty-first century, all water supply reserves in the region have been practically exhausted. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the river basins in this region are transboundary and their watersheds do not coincide with the existing state borders. In addition, the economies of the Central Asian countries depend enormously on the use of transboundary water resources adding complexity to the water relations among these states which may be fraught with ethnic and social conflicts. The problem is aggravated by differing hydropower priorities of the countries located in the upper reaches of rivers, such as Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan that control more than 80% of all freshwater supplies, and agricultural needs of the downstream countries – Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. In other words, some of the countries need electricity, while others water for irrigated farming.

This problem remains in the focus of attention due to a number of factors typical of the Central Asian region: the apparent political stability of local elites tested periodically by civil confrontations, “smoldering” military conflict in adjacent Afghanistan, high population growth rates, and the presence of ecological disaster zones – drying up of the Aral Sea, desertification, etc. In addition, water management in the Central Asian countries is being adapted to the new economic conditions. There are also the imbalance between the number of the population and the amount of available resources required to meet their vital needs (food, water, etc.), acceleration of climate change processes leading to the growing number of extreme weather conditions such as floods and droughts, and contamination of water sources resulting in deteriorated sanitary conditions. Fair and sustainable management of shared water resources requires legal regulation, the institutions that are capable to ensure the holistic approach to this problem, and effective methods for solving it. Regardless of the surviving problems, the international experience has shown that in case of joint management of transboundary river basins, the interstate water conflicts usually tend to give way to cooperation. Depending on the emerging political situation, water problems can be a factor of rapprochement or disintegration of the Central Asian states.

The chapter describes the UNECE environmental conventions and its present and potential application and impact on water management in Central Asia. The four main conventions – the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention), the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, and the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters – are all of value for the development of environment and water cooperation in Central Asia. However, only three of the five countries are Parties to the Water Convention, and there are differing views among Central Asian countries how this and other conventions could be applied. It is proposed how a strengthened dialogue in the subregion could be developed on the basis of the UNECE Conventions.

Central Asian states are undergoing social-political-economic transitions since early 1990s including natural resources management systems. Energy-water-food linkages play a critical role for economic development and shared prosperity. These three resources are tightly interconnected, forming a resource and policy nexus. The regional political economies are still based on increasing resource abstraction instead of its reorientation toward efficiency improvements.

Weak enforcement capacities, power asymmetries, and competition for resources between sectors known as “egocentrism” are hampering the inter-sectoral coordination and governance on national level with more complications on international cross-border dimensions. The hydrocracies (water bureaucracies) are still hesitant to share decision-making power with other sectors over water resources management. New sources of water are increasingly expensive and limited in the region. Efforts to increase water, energy efficiencies at the local and national level are both limited and scattered.

National governments do not give the relevant priorities to the place of biodiversity and ecosystem services – key elements in water resources formation. The risks of delaying the transition toward sustainable development are considerable.

The Central Asian countries once practiced quasi-nexus approach during the Soviet period when commodities exchanged and water and energy development coexisted; would any lessons of the past be useful for the future? The paper examines feasibility of nexus approach on sustainable development within national boundaries and on transboundary levels.

The US policy in Central Asia is a security-driven, multilayer strategy that concentrates on Afghanistan and regional development. The United States’ priorities in energy and water issues lie within regional development projects, connecting South and Central Asia. The US government is also trying to enhance regional dialogue on transboundary rivers, establish national energy security policies, and improve management of water resources. The US Agency for International Development plays a crucial role in engaging with the region in both areas in long-term content-wise projects, empowering local communities, educating people, and introducing integrated water resource management.

Being a leading member of the European Union and initiator of the EU’s Strategy for Central Asia for the period 2007–2013, Germany is actively promoting the Central Asian direction as a priority in the foreign policy of the EU. In 2008, only within the framework of the “Strategy for a New Partnership between the EU and the Countries of Central Asia for 2007–2013” it became possible to launch the “German Water Initiative for Central Asia” which gradually evolved from the Strategy Paper 2002–2006 and finally led to the subsequent and more specific German policy in the field of water resources. The main objective of the German Water Initiative is political rapprochement of Central Asian states by means of providing a dialogue platform with a view to develop a common regional water strategy. German political foundations, business community, and public organizations also actively participate in solving water problem in the Central Asian region.

The author comes to the conclusion that Germany is seeking to play a special role in solving the water problem in the CAR, pursuing a consistent policy for improving the management of regional water resources. This distinguishes favorably Germany from other states of the European Union.

The cooperation between Kazakhstan and China in the field of the joint use and protection of transboundary water resources is very important not only for these countries but for Russia as well. And the key issue here is that the use of such transboundary rivers as Irtysh and Ili, the principal sources of freshwater supply in Kazakhstan, influences tremendously the social and economic development of these countries.

In the recent decades, Kazakhstan has faced the growing water deficit, and one of the reasons for this is the policy of China to increase unilaterally the water intake from transboundary rivers Irtysh and Ili ignoring herewith the interests of the Kazakh side.

Such policy of China threatens the implementation of the plans for economic development of Kazakhstan and affects negatively the solution of the problems to ensure social and political stability. As a result, every year Kazakhstan has to deal with the growing number of problems which the solution is dependent, in fact, on China.

For the Central Asian countries, the problems of water resources – their adequate volume and free access – were historically the key issue which is connected with the hydrographic position of the region and the climate typical of continental territories. The permanently quickly growing population is also a factor here.

In Kazakhstan the situation with water resources had aggravated after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan borders on Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Russia, and China. Kazakhstan strongly depends on the policy of neighboring countries in the water and energy fields because many rivers crossing its territory take their origin outside of the country. And the more so, the neighboring states often disregard the requirements of Kazakhstan keeping in mind only their own interests. As a result, out of all Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan has the lowest indicator by water supply per a unit of land.

In the early 1990s apart from the growing contradictions with the Central Asian countries over water, Kazakhstan faced pressing from China that launched economic programs for development of its western territories. Accomplishment of these programs required more water, and China started taking more water from rivers shared with Kazakhstan. And Kazakhstan locating in the lower reaches of transboundary rivers had no means to influence China. This touchy issue in water relationships with neighboring countries has survived to the present. The unequal conditions of upstream and downstream countries are the source of serious conflicts. China, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan being the upstream countries control over 80% of all fresh water supplies. At the same time, the agrarian interests of the downstream countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan) are in conflict with the upstream countries. In other words, one group of countries is targeted to industrial development, power generation, and increase of hydrocarbon production, while the other needs water for development of irrigated farming. The Interstate Kazakhstan-China Commission was established as a platform for negotiations, but it turned out ineffective. The commission failed to elaborate the mutually acceptable options to address the issue of transboundary water resources use.

But Kazakhstan still pursues the policy aimed at continuation of negotiations with the Central Asian countries on sharing the transboundary river flow. If no progress is attained in coping with this issue, Kazakhstan may face considerable difficulties as the economy of the country and the social situation in some of its regions directly depend on availability of water resources, including of transboundary rivers.

This issue remains acute for Kazakhstan due to the following factors typical of all Central Asian countries: availability of zones of environmental disaster – drying out of the Aral Sea, salinization, desertification, and others; the disbalance between the number of population and the volume of available resources; acceleration of climate changes; and growing pollution of water sources which results in deterioration of sanitary conditions.

Fair and sustainable management of joint water resources requires establishment of effective institutes capable to ensure the integral approach to this issue. Unilateral actions of countries neighboring on Kazakhstan aimed at using transboundary water only for their own needs give rise to conflict situations which will invariably affect the development of interstate cooperation and regional stability in Central Asia.

The policy of Kyrgyzstan in water-energy resources management was formed after breakup of the Soviet Union when new independent states appeared. The Central Asian countries used the principle of assigning quotas on water resources which was widely practiced in the Soviet period. However, soon it has become clear that this approach is not in the interests of Kyrgyzstan. The country that practically had no hydrocarbon and quality coal resources could satisfy its energy needs only by hydropower plants on transboundary rivers. However, as soon as the countries of this region became independent, their interests turned out to be at variance. Kyrgyzstan as well as Tajikistan locates in the upper reaches of transboundary rivers and is interested in accumulation of water in reservoirs in summer for their further use in winter for power generation. On the contrary, the downstream countries, such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, possessing extensive agricultural areas, are interested in getting water resources in summer. The directly opposing goals of the Central Asian countries provoked conflicts among them.

Having faced the difficulties in addressing the water-energy issues in the multilateral format, Kyrgyzstan consistently pursues the policy targeted to full control of water resources formed in its territory. It adopted the laws aimed at formation of the market-based relations with neighboring states in respect of water resources of cross-country waterways.

At the same time, Kyrgyzstan follows the course of construction of large water-energy facilities which should enhance its opportunities for addressing the energy security issues. However, these plans of Kyrgyzstan are criticized by other Central Asian countries that see in such policy a threat to their interests, first of all, for agriculture and solution of social and economic problems.

The article addresses Uzbekistan’s water and hydropower potential inasmuch as it concerns satisfaction of the population’s basic needs, food security, and development of the country’s economy. Besides, the author analyzes Uzbekistan’s interaction with Central Asia’s countries in the spheres of the use of transboundary streams and restoration of the region’s common integrated power transmission system. Special attention is paid to the water-related legislation and programs of development of hydropower land improvement, irrigation, and hydropower sector as such. The author reviews steps taken in 2013–2017 in order to upgrade and expand the country’s irrigation and land improvement systems, as well as its hydropower sector.

Freshwater is among the major resources of Tajikistan. With the majority of the surface water originating from its territory, the country represents a water tower for the Amu Darya and consequently for the Aral Sea. Per inhabitant, Tajikistan uses much less of the water resources used in other riparian countries and has a significant hydropower potential. To fully develop it, Tajikistan follows a sophisticated strategy that includes the construction of the Rogun dam and that is articulated on several levels: from the citizen level to the national level with a national water sector reform and to the international level with many bilateral, regional, and global initiatives. Tajikistan has become one of the leading countries on water cooperation at the global level and places the United Nations at the center of global water governance. The soft power of Tajikistan on the water agenda can be broken down in several attributes: the international context with a fragmented global water governance; the leadership provided at the highest levels of the state and the stability of power structures; the expertise and capacity built in the country; the support of many countries, international organizations, and international financial institutions; as well as the traditional hospitality of the Tajik people. This all contributes to the so-called Dushanbe Spirit. With its water initiatives and by hosting conferences in Dushanbe, Tajikistan provides a public good to the international community. The latest initiative to date led to the declaration by the UN General Assembly of the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development” (2018–2028).

For the people of Central Asia, water is the key factor of their sustainable development. Turkmenistan is a water deficit country. Taking into consideration that the greater part of the country’s territory is covered by the Karakum Desert, it is quite understandable that the water is the critical issue here. Turkmenistan gets its share of water (fixed in agreements) from four transboundary rivers – Amu Darya, Murghab, Tejen, and Atrek – flowing over the territories of several states, i.e., Afghanistan, Iran, and Uzbekistan.

The largest users of water in Turkmenistan are irrigated farming and agriculture – growing of cotton, cereals, and vegetables. They account for around 70% of the total water consumption. Insignificant volumes of water are directed to municipal water supply of the population and other industries.

Water is supplied via the system of main canals from the main source – the Amu Darya River belonging to the Aral Sea Basin. Water runs along the world’s longest irrigation and water supply waterway – the Karakum Canal more than 1,300 km long. It nearly reaches the Caspian Sea.

After the declaration of independence by the Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan), the mechanism of joint non-conflict use of water resources established in the period of the Soviet Union was broken down. And from this time on, each of these countries was endeavoring to assert its interests in the struggle for natural resources, the key one of which was water resources that had acquired transboundary dimensions.

Numerous attempts to find the comprehensive regional solutions satisfying these countries in the new geopolitical reality had faced mutual distrust which impeded arriving to some comprise (compensation) decision. In Central Asia in conditions of climate changes, the water issue has become the most important and, in some cases, even crucial factor for further development. In such situation only the regional consensus may become the platform for efficient interaction of states in finding the way for environmentally sustainable development.

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is one of the riparian states of the Amu Darya, the major transboundary river in Central Asia that takes its origin here and further on forms the border with Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. Afghanistan accounts for nearly 14% or 246 thousand km² of the Aral Sea watershed area (1,771.5 thousand km²) where about 20% of the country’s population live. Considering the regional instability that still exists, the tasks formulated in Afghanistan concerning water resource development may be accomplished relying only on the use of the Amu Darya water potential rivaled by Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. In the recent three decades, the interests of Afghanistan in the water field have been simply ignored. Owing to the military conflict, Afghanistan has not been a party to agreements on transboundary water resource management, although this country is their potential participant.

After the political situation in Afghanistan gets stabilized, the economic development of this country will be targeted to ensuring its food security, first of all, by way of further growth of irrigated agricultural lands which invariably will demand more water intake from Amu Darya that has been already overexploited. This will worsen the situation with water supply in the Central Asian countries which will become a source of trouble and will have serious implications for the relations of Afghanistan with other Central Asian states. In the future the joint use of Afghan river flows will be one of the most complicated challenges for interstate and, primarily, economic relations.

Conclusions to the volume “Water Resources in Central Asia: International Context” summarize the main issues discussed in 15 chapters describing the history of water resources management, the legal framework of interstate cooperation on water resources, the institutional cooperation on water resources, the cooperation and conflicts among the Central Asian countries, the application of UNECE environmental conventions, water-energy-food-environment nexus in Central Asia, as well as the water resources policy of the United States, Germany, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan in Central Asia.