Case Study Amudarya

Case Study Leader

Maja Schlueter, Umweltforschungszentrum Leipzig (UFZ), email: maja.schlueter[at]ufz.de

Results

The results of the Case Study are summarized in the booklet.

Translations are available

• in Russian: Подходы к Адаптивному Управлению Водными - Ресурсами в бассейне реки Амударья (pdf)
  
• in Uzbek: Амударё хавзасида сув ресурсларини бошқаришга ёндашувлар (pdf)

An additional NeWater report has been also published and translated to Russian on:

• Achieving Sustainable Water Management in Uzbekistan: Visions of farmers and fishermen by Neela Matin (English)
• Достижение устойчивого управления водными ресурсами в Узбекистане: с точки зрения фермеров и рыбаков by Neela Matin (Russian)

Amudarya River Basin

The Amudarya river basin is shared by 5 countries, namely Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and the Kyrgyz Republic. With irrigated agriculture at shares above 30% of the basin countries’ economies, water resources are of strategic importance for all of them. River runoff is exclusively formed along the first 180km of the river, mainly in Tajikistan and Afghanistan. It is mostly withdrawn in the lowland plains of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to feed an extensive irrigated agriculture. Overuse of the river’s water resources to support high agricultural production (mainly cotton) has caused severe degradation of agricultural soils, the semi-natural ecosystems along the river's course and the Aral Sea. The newly independent states have to deal with the legacy of mismanagement in the past as well as the consequences of the political and economic changes of the last 15 years. As a response all countries to varying extents have initiated reforms and restructuring of agriculture. Recently, reforms in water management have followed in several countries (e.g Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan) introducing new organizations and institutions to adapt water management to the new realities. However, this process proceeds at a much slower pace than anticipated, has encountered many barriers and setbacks and is often not carried out to the extent necessary. While technical solutions for many problems exist, the human dimension is often neglected and truly integrated approaches are rare.

Tasks and activities

NeWater activities in the Amudarya case study focus mainly on the Uzbek part of the Amudarya river delta and the transboundary level. At the beginning of the project the following research priorities were determined by stakeholders from Uzbekistan (national, regional and local level) and Tajikistan (transboundary):

• Development of basin level approaches to water quality, sediment and salt management
• Methods for adaptation to high variability in river flow and to extreme events
• Transboundary water management
• Analysis of the ongoing institutional change, methods to strengthen new organizations and institutions
• Methods for stakeholder participation in the political, cultural and social context of the Amudarya river basin
• Social dimension of water management: poverty, gender and health

To address these research needs NeWater partners of the following workpackages are conducting field research in the Amudarya river basin

• WP 1.2 Governance and Institutions
• WP 1.3 Transboundary Regimes
• WP 1.6 Transition to Advanced Monitoring Systems
• WP 1.7 Transition to Adaptive Water Management
• WP 2.3 Balancing Water Quantity, Water Quality and Ecosystem Services
• WP 2.4 Social Dimension of Water Management
• WP 2.5 Resilience and Adaptive Capacity of Water Management Regimes

Team members

Name	Size	Published
Booklet_russian_final.pdf	1439 kb	Mr. Stefan Riffert	2009-03-20 11:03:06
Booklet_uzbek_final.pdf	1365 kb	Mr. Stefan Riffert	2009-03-20 11:03:13
Booklet_english_final.pdf	1339 kb	Ilke Borowski	2009-03-24 14:33:25