Development of Cooperation in the Aral Sea Basin to Mitigate Consequences of the Environmental Catastrophe

1. Position Paper for Central Asian sub-regional session at the 7th World Water Forum
“Development of Cooperation in the Aral Sea Basin
to Mitigate Consequences of the Environmental Catastrophe”
Vadim SOKOLOV, Regional Coordinator GWP CACENA
Alisher ALBEKOV, EC IFAS
19 November 2014, Seoul, South Korea
16th Governing Council Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Water Forum/ Asia-Pacific Regional Preparatory Meeting for the 7th World Water Forum

2. The most important task now for Central Asia
…is to reduce the devastating impact of the Aral crisis on the environment and
the livelihoods of living in the Aral Sea region of millions of people.
Basin countries:
Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz
Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan
Total Basin area: 1,231,400 km2
Population: 65 mln in five former
Soviet countries, of which 45 mln live
within basin
Two main rivers:
Syrdarya (36.6 km3/year)
Amudarya (79 km3/year)
Total surface runoff:
116 km3/year

3. Basic provisions for solution are available in the following areas:
 Maintain existing the fragile ecological balance in the Aral sea region, and combat
desertification, aiming improvement of the water management system, economical
and rational use of water resources;
Create conditions for reproduction and genetic conservation, and public health in
the Aral sea region, development of social infrastructure, a wide network of medical
and educational institutions;
Create the necessary social and economic mechanisms and incentives to improve
the quality and standard of living of the population, the development of basic
infrastructure and communications.
Preservation and restoration of biodiversity of flora and fauna in the region.
Those key issues are in the focus of the proposed by the President of Uzbekistan Islam
Karimov the "Programme of measures to eliminate the consequences of the drying Aral Sea
disaster", which was circulated as an official document of the 68th Session of the UN General
Assembly

4. Time-Frame of the Central Asian sub-regional process
5 June, 2014. The Asia-Pacific Regional Kick-off Meeting for the 7th World Water Forum in
Singapore.
8-9 July 2014, Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Sub-regional kick-off conference of the CACENA.
August-October 2014. Preparatory phase – set up working groups and drafting sub-regional
position paper.
28-29 October 2014, Urgench, Uzbekistan. Sub-regional Preparatory meeting (session 1) in
the occasion of the International Conference of IFAS.
November-December 2014 – January-February 2015. Consultation phase – two rounds of
discussion meetings.
December 2014. Interim Report is submitted to the 7th WWF Org. Committee and APWF.
12-17 April 2015. Central Asian sub-regional session at the 7th World Water Forum.
May 2015. Final Report finalized and submitted.
Throughout 2015 (tbc). Report and follow-up road-map for cooperation development
introduced at the IFAS Board.
Annually 2016-2018. Disseminated through EC IFAS and GWP CACENA activities and
follow-up by cooperation organizations.

5. Key partners:
Sub-regional co-ordinators: Executive Committee of Interstate Fund for saving the
Aral Sea (EC IFAS) and Global Water Partnership in Central Asia and Caucasus
(GWP CACENA).
Partners: Scientific Information Centre of Interstate Commission for Water
Coordination (SIC ICWC), CAREC, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education,
the UN Regional Centre of Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia, UNECE, GIZ,
SDC, World Bank - Central Asia Energy Water Development Program (CAEWDP),
EU-CA Enhanced Regional Cooperation on Environment and Water (WECOOP)
and others.

6. Expected Outputs
• Increased number of professionals in the Central Asian region who get better
competence and a more clear understanding of water cooperation principles and
who have become familiar with collaborative tools and techniques in practice
• Contribute to strengthening of the negotiation arena for all Central Asian
countries by providing an opportunity for joint learning, better understanding of
alternatives and strengthened negotiation and consensus building skills of key
stakeholders
• Establishing a foundation for further networking, communication and informed
dialogue among key stakeholders on all levels in the Aral Sea basin
• Establishing a framework for consensus building on water related issues

7. The sub-regional session for Central Asia at the 7th WWF
Will be organized in form of high level panel discussion (120 min) addressing to the special
issue related to the cooperation aspects in the Aral Sea basin.
The sub-regional position paper “Development of cooperation in the Aral Sea Basin to
mitigate consequences of the environmental catastrophe” will be publically presented at this
sub-regional session.
During session it is expected a broader discussion on the findings with all relevant
stakeholders at all levels, including water users, planners, policy makers, and water
professionals from and outside the Central Asia.
The roadmap of follow up actions will be the main output of the session discussions.

8. The prospective road-map of cooperation building in the Aral Sea Basin
Includes 5 key implementation strategies:
Demonstration – using demonstration and testing of how to make cooperation
operational in a basin as a basis for confidence and trust building, shared learning
and joint action on concrete steps towards building national and transboundary water
governance capacity.
Learning – using training and capacity building for multiple stakeholder groups.
Dialogue for consensus building – initiate actions and learning events to demonstrate
and catalyze new dialogues on technical, development, and political issues.
Leadership – supporting empowerment of champions for transboundary water
cooperation and improved water governance who can effectively advocate
mobilization of water diplomacy capacity.
Advice and support – providing advice and technical assistance to governments and
stakeholders on demand and including development and use of institutional and legal
frameworks.

9. More information:
www.ec-ifas.org
www.gwp.org