Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

Losses of Central Asian countries due to lack of cooperation in the water related issues are currently estimated at $4.5 billion a year.

This was announced by Executive Director of the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC) Iskandar Abdullayev within the framework of the conference held in Almaty.

“Without a system partnership and dialogue on transboundary water management in the region, serious competition for water resources can arise. We and our partners are working on small rivers, supporting the work of regional working groups and promoting a comprehensive discussion of these issues,” he said.

CAREC Executive Director also stressed that the de facto countries of the region are at the point where the lack of dialogue on water issue has a price.

“Today, the region has developed a common understanding that ignoring the issues of joint use of natural resources is more expensive and simply economically unprofitable. The loss of the region in the absence of partnership makes at least $4.5 billion,” he said.

These losses can be attributed to the insufficient productivity of agriculture due to lack of water resources, and to the high price of electricity and the unreliability of this system, according to the expert. This is also related to the limited access to international finance which is caused by the presence of many unresolved issues among the countries of Central Asia.

Abdullayev believes that maintenance of a political dialogue between the countries of the region is one of the decisions that will result in establishing an effective water partnership. The project of the European Union, which was completed, is precisely the solution of these issues.

“We must understand that the water issue is not just a technical issue. This is a political issue, it is interaction in legislation, the involvement of those people who make decisions. Without such platforms we still have a half-way approach,” he explained.

At the same time, he added that within the framework of the project such platforms were launched. For example, participation in the World Water Week in 2016 contributed to this aim. After that, the first meeting of the participants of the countries of the region was held in Almaty, and the second one in Stockholm. The discussion at both venues was very interesting and productive, according to the expert.

Research and expert work aimed at reviewing the best practices in the world was also launched withing the framework of the project. CAREC head noted that within 25 years the regional countries began to develop new approaches to water resources management. It was important to systematize best practices, and also to understand the process of improving water resources.

In conclusion, the expert said that the main objective of the project was to stimulate cross-border trust in the countries of the region and their active involvement in this process.

Water remains one of the greatest challenges for Central Asian nations due to the lack of cooperation and regional dialogue on resource management between the upstream and downstream countries.

The reason for poor water management lies in the fact that downstream countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) and upstream countries (Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) have conflicting interests in how these water resources should be used.

Downstream countries are strongly dependent on irrigated agriculture while upstream countries are more focused on expanding reservoir capacity and hydroelectric power generation. In summer the downstream countries want water for irrigation while the upstream countries want to accumulate it for winter power generation.

In the Soviet times a system of compensation for the upstream countries with oil and gas from the downstream countries was introduced, but currently all five countries have their own national interests.

---

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz