Free Flow

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Cooperation on small rivers

can make a difference

Jeff Smith for the International Water Management Institute

long two glacier-fed tributaries leading to the decimated

Aral Sea in central Asia, river flow, water distribution

and other data are shared across national borders. As

part of the cooperative effort, a river management official in

Kyrgyzstan used a radio phone provided by the project to warn

his downstream counterparts in Tajikstan of heavy rains and

help avert a potential devastating flash flood and mudslide.

Sometimes water specialists cross borders or meet in neutral

zones to discuss water management issues. When borders are

tight, they keep in touch by telephone or Skype.

The Colombo, Sri Lanka-based International Water Management

Institute (IWMI)

has worked to foster transboundary coopera-

tion on these two small rivers – the Khojabakirgansai shared by

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and the Shakhimardansai shared by

Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

“If your neighbour is in peace then

you are in peace,” A’zamjon Rahmatullaev, the head of an Uzbek

basin irrigation authority in the area, said at a workshop last year in

characterizing the importance of cooperation.

IWMI, one of 15 Consultative Group on International

Agricultural Research (CGIAR) research centres

supported by

a consortium of governments, private foundations

and other organizations, generally takes a basin-wide

approach. But in this case, the organization believes

that potential conflicts in this volatile region can be

eased through cooperation on small rivers, with the

hope that cooperation can spread to broader areas.

Local communities in essence learn to manage the

water supply and infrastructure themselves, and main-

tain it over the long term.

Joint river management planning has resulted in

better communication, more reliable and timely water

distribution, improved maintenance and a process

for resolving disputes. IWMI helped the groups

systematize what previously was an ad hoc process.

“Everything is transparent,” says Mark Giordano,

IWMI theme leader, water and society. “The system is

working better overall.”

IWMI researcher Kai Wegerich says it is difficult to

draw a direct link between cooperation and livelihoods.

While water efficiency may be improving, IWMI’s

research has shown that livelihoods in the basin are

ransboundary

ater

anagement

Good data underpins successful water cooperation. Students in water management at the Kyrgyz National Agrarian University are the first generation to learn

modern techniques of water data collection

Image: Ikuru Kawajima/IWMI