This might be a brief summary of the outcome of the international conference “Towards the 6^th  World Water Forum – cooperative actions  for  water security” held in Tashkent last week.

During the conference experts, scholars and water management professionals from over 30 countries and the same number of international organizations exchanged views on transboundary water resources management, its conservation, risk management and water security, food security, socio-economic development, environmental security, climate change etc.

Despite the fact that the conference was organized to develop common regional priorities for the 6^th International Water Forum to be held in Marseilles, France in March 2012, it became a kind of barometer of the increasingly escalating state of water-economic relations between the countries of Central Asia.

Although all participants agreed with the theoretical formulation of the question of rational use of water resources, stated the need for resolving all the outstanding issues within the framework of the international law, which basically means the UN  Conventions on the Protection and Use of Trans-boundary Watercourses and International Lakes  from 1992 and on Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses from 1997, in practice the views as well as the interest of the experts on the issues of using of water resources were diametrically controversial.

The essence of the problem is that after the independence Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which are located upstream of the trans-boundary rivers of Amudarya and Syrdarya, have begun using the hydropower station built during the Soviet Union for irrigation purposes to produce as much as possible amount of electricity.

Due to the change in the mode of operation of the hydropower stations from the irrigation to energy production, downstream countries – Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are getting less and less water during the irrigation season.

According to Sh. Hamrayev, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan, due to the introduction of energy regime at the upstream dams in water-short 2008, in early vegetation season on April 1 the Nurek reservoir had 5.9 billion m³ of water, which reached 9.7 billion m³ at the end of irrigation season on September 1.

As for the Toktogul water reservoir, it released only 5.3 billion m³ of water in 2010 during the vegetation period, which accounts for only 32 % of the water flow.  This causes an artificial shortage of water in spring and summer periods and hurts the water balance in the region.

If not to take decisive steps in order to cut the increasingly tightening Gordian knot, the melting glaciers could become a serious destabilizing factor in the regiondue to global warming, reducing water flow in trans-boundary rivers and population growth in the region.

According to Sagit Ibatullin, Chairman of the Executive Committee of International fund for saving the Aral Sea, the supply of water from glaciers declined by more than 25 % during the period from 1957 to 2000, and this process is continuing.

By 2025 thousands of small glaciers will disappear, the area of glaciers will shrink by 20%, stocks of ice will decrease by another 25 %.

In his opinion, since the use and management of water resources of trans-boundary rivers is a specific matter, the parties should work long and hard to achieve the convergence of interests at the political level.

So far all the treaties and agreements adopted at the intergovernmental level have yielded few practical results due to, as it was put by Mr. Sh. Hamrayev, hydroegoism and ignoring the water justice and water ethics.

Until now, only two countries – Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan signed the aforementioned UN conventions.

Dinara Ziganshina, Professor of the University of Dundee, Scotland, noted that, if Central Asian countries want to avoid conflicts in trans-boundary river basins, they should harmonize their intergovernmental agreements with the basic principles of the UN Convention on the 1997 Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses.

Sulton Rahimov, First Deputy Minister of Land Reclamation and Water Resources of Tajikistan made a strange statement at a debate in one of the round tables. According to him, Uzbekistan is trying to use the instruments of international law as a tool to exert pressure on Tajikistan.

But how can it be otherwise if Tajikistan does not comply with the provisions of dozens of international agreements signed by president Emomali Rahmon, when well before the announcement of the results of the independent international technical and environmental assessment of the Rogun project the Minister of Energy and Industry of Tajikistan Mr. Sherali Gul states that the parameters of it will not be changed regardless of the outcome of the study?

For many years the Uzbek environmentalists are ringing the bell about the potential dangers posed by the Rogun reservoir with 335 meters high walls located in a seismic zone. This is despite the fact that 89 % of the damage in Asian countries is caused by earthquakes.

During the conference, many experts expressed unanimous opinion saying that the solution of the problem of just distribution of water of trans-boundary rivers requires the change in the approach to the issue.

For example, M.Mamanazarov, Head of the Department for monitoring of protection and use of land and water resources of the State Committee for Nature Protection believes that “water shortage is not a problem based on water scarcity alone; it is rooted on the issue of effective management of water resources.” In his view, integrated water resources management (IWRM) is a tool to balance the multiple uses of water.

“This is a system of management of all water resources (surface water, groundwater and recycled water) within the hydrographic boundaries,” he said.  “And it brings together the interests of different sectors and levels in water use, involves all stakeholders in decision-making, promotes the efficient use of water, land and other natural resources for sustainable fulfillment of the requirements of nature and society in the water.”

The concept was reflected in the final document of the Tashkent Conference.

The discussion of water problem in the region continued in Almaty on May 19, 2011. On that day the World Bank gathered the representatives of civil society of Central Asia on a neutral territory to exchange information and to evaluate the proposed project of the Regional Rogun reservoir and hydroelectric power station with an aim to ensure their technical quality.

Well, it is a good idea. It is especially good because the representatives of the World Bank acknowledged that “they are not informing enough the public about their activities related to the project Rogun and as well as not paying enough attention to study the views of interested parties.” This statement was made by Mr.Alihanov Mr.Alihanov, Head of the Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan, who was attending the conference. But the recognition of the oversight by part of the World Bank does not guarantee that it will not be on the bit of the Tajik government once again.

Discussions at the Tashkent conference on water demonstrated that there is no alternative to cooperation and mutual concessions on the issue of allocation of trans-boundary rivers. It is true even at the time when the upstream countries are ignoring the international law.

Fahriddin Nizom,

Expert, Regional Policy Foundation

Translated from Russian into English by the author.