Central Asia’s Intensifying Water Dispute
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Government
Impact of Water Issues on Shared Border Areas and Competing Water and Energy Needs Among the Three Riparian States
Water management in Central Asia has long been a controversial issue. It is a region where major rivers cross international borders and water and energy production are closely intertwined. In 2012, a dispute over water resources risked provoking military conflict among the former Soviet republics, due to plans by Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to dam rivers for hydropower projects. Uzbekistan, Central Asia's most populous country, depends on the rivers that rise in these neighboring countries to irrigate farmland and it has long been opposed to plans to revive Soviet-era projects to build dams upstream.
In a recently released report, the International Crisis Group (ICG) says that political rivalries, nationalism and mistrust have also been increasing tensions. The paper titled Water Pressures in Central Asia , examines the impact of water issues on shared border areas in the volatile Ferghana Valley; water shortages in urban areas; and competing water and energy needs among the three riparian states.
Deirdre Tynan, Central Asia Project Director at the International Crisis Group, co-authored the report. In a DW interview, the analyst says that the water dispute in the region is increasing the risk that people will seek radical alternatives to the current systems they live under. At the very least, she adds, if the governments fail to resolve their water issues, economies will stagnate and their foreign relations with neighboring states will worsen.
Deirdre Tynan: Previous water sharing agreements, largely modeled on the Soviet-era arrangements, are not working. Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have different priorities for water. Relations between the three states are complicated by other factors such as border tensions and internal issues such as poverty and corruption.
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