Free Flow

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ransboundary

ater

anagement

Cooperation at local level

There was reason to focus cooperation efforts on the small tributaries

flowing into the Syr Darya. Water sharing in these ‘subcatchments’

is a local, bilateral issue with infrastructure shared by bordering

countries. The setting can also be ideal to demonstrate what strate-

gies might work on other tributaries.

Research also showed that cooperation on water management

could exist at the local level even amid tension at the national

level. For example, Uzbekistan and Tajikstan were in disagree-

ment regarding the construction of a large hydroelectric dam,

while Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan grappled over water and

natural gas trades.

The Soviet break-up has both simplified and complicated

matters, with former Soviet colleagues now working on opposite

sides of the border. Abdukhakim Abdusaminov, chairman of a

Tajik water users’ group on Khojabakirgansai and former head of

Jabbor Rasulov district, recalled at one workshop that before the

Soviet split-up, it was quite easy to coordinate and monitor water

allocations, agree on maintenance projects, and discuss emerging

issues. The IWMI project, in essence, has solidified those informal

relationships through regular meetings.

Jusipbek Kazbekov, an IWMI researcher in central Asia, recalls

some key river management operators hurriedly leaving the

workshop room one day as clouds looked ominous so they could

coordinate safeguards to the systems. A warning of possible flash

floods, for example, can spark downstream operators to close water

intake structures and open flood management dams, canals and

channels to avoid costly damages.

To aid in transboundary cooperation, IWMI, with partners, has also

collected Soviet and post-independence water agreements and proto-

cols, with particular focus on the 33 small transboundary tributaries

within the Ferghana Valley.The documents cover a wide range of

topics including water sharing, infrastructure maintenance, border

demarcations, transboundary infrastructure property rights, land

exchanges, pasture use and water withdrawals. Plans are to create a

website that provides the ability to search and download documents

and data, as well as maps. The documents provide information on

long-term patterns in the region, and lessons for the future.

At a workshop last year in Ferghana, Uzbekistan, IWMI staff talked

about the different ways the parties could institutionalize joint water

governance for the Shakhimardansai tributary. Attendees partici-

pated in a group exercise to discuss the options. The participants

agreed that a more systematic approach was needed, and established

a river-wide water commission consisting of board members from

sub-basin water committees on both sides of the river with appropri-

ate support from the respective governments.

Later that month, IWMI held a similar workshop in Bishkek,

Krygyzstan for the Khojabakirgansai tributary, the vast majority

of which lies in upstream Kyrgyzstan. After flowing into Tajikstan,

the river flows into the Plotina Dam, which is used from March

through October to divert water into a canal to irrigate fields.

An agreement signed in 1962 calls for 79 per cent of

Khojabakirgansai’s annual flow to be distributed in the arid Tajik

basin. Kyrgystan has had plans since the 1970s to build a dam

to double its irrigated land upstream. The plan has yet to receive

funding but is a subject for discussion with the Tajiks as part of

cooperative effort. While there remains tension over water alloca-

tion, there now is a joint plan to discuss river management issues

and cooperation during the critical periods.

Kazbekov says the tributary cooperation has

resulted in better communication between farmers

and authorities. Until recently, water was heavily

subsidized or free in central Asia. Now water users

have to pay in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, making

them more motivated to ensure the system is in good

working order.

However, Wegerich and other researchers urge

central Asia also to look beyond agriculture.6 The

region is often viewed as water scarce, but in reality,

the freshwater carried by the Syr Darya and Amu Darya

exceed commonly used water shortage standards,

according to researchers. The problem, they say, is that

water is being used primarily to cultivate crops such as

water-gobbling cotton.

Economies are beginning to become less dependent

on agriculture, but the transition away from natural

resources to service-based and knowledge-based

industries such as information technology needs to

accelerate. IWMI researchers argue that such a strat-

egy is needed not only for the sake of future water

resources amid climate change; it would also make

the region more politically secure by offering more

promising social and economic opportunities.

The framework for water cooperation also can be

broadened. The next logical step, IWMI researchers

say, is to replicate the small transboundary tributary

cooperation in other places, and encourage regional

organizations to set up special funds to support such

efforts. In the words of IWMI’s Wegerich: “This project

has the potential to trigger wider cooperation and actu-

ally build cooperation from the grassroots.”

IWMI’s transboundary water management approach

IWMI generally takes a basin-scale approach to improve

water management for food production, livelihoods and

the environment. In the volatile Ferghana Valley in central

Asia, IWMI has taken a ‘second best’ approach – working

to develop cooperation along small transboundary

tributaries where decisions are made locally and

infrastructure is shared. The hope is that such bottom-up

cooperation can be replicated on a broader scale.

IWMI’s research on transboundary issues focuses on five

main areas:

• Creating analytical tools and resources that assist

researchers, policymakers and practitioners in

assessing and managing transboundary river basins.

An example is the collection of historical water

management agreements.

• Identifying and answering research questions central to

the improved management of transboundary waters.

• Undertaking research projects aimed at developing

practical policy and management recommendations at

the local level as well as generic suggestions with global

relevance.

• Developing partnerships with institutions through

research activities and involving and supporting

graduate students and interns interested in

transboundary water research.

• Ensuring rigour in its work by publishing findings in major

international, peer-reviewed journals.