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6 Water Management at Interstate Level
Legal framework The foundation of the current water management in the Aral Sea basin were laid by the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Joint Management of the Use and Conservation of Water Resources in Interstate Sources (Almaty, 1992). By this Agreement the five CA countries have agreed to adhere to the existing structure and principles of water allocation that were formed in the Soviet period.37 At the time of independence, the legal framework of cooperation extended through conclusion of new multi- and bilateral agreements between the region’s countries and accession to multilateral environmental agreements. Shortcomings of the current legal framework of cooperation in the Aral Sea basin include the lack of clear procedural obligations for exchange of information, consultations, notification on planned measures, monitoring and impact assessment, as well as insufficient regulation of process of interstate watercourse use taking into account the interests of all riparian states and the fundamental principles of international law, such as equitable and reasonable utilization, no harm and aquatic ecosystem protection. Another issue of concern is the lack of compliance with agreed water allocation principles due to absence of regulatory and enforcement mechanisms, the breaches of reservoir operation regime as a result of absence of an agreed optimal and mutually beneficial option of balancing irrigation and hydropower needs, failure to provide water for environmental needs due to lack of agreed updated norms and rates, recordkeeping system and relevant agreements, and also non-fulfillment by the countries of provisions stipulated by international treaties concerning environmental monitoring and information systems. Over the last 25 years, repeated attempts have been made to improve the existing legal framework. As part of three Aral Sea Basin programs (ASBP), dedicated activities were planned in this area. Most recently, in 2017, the United Nations Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia proposed to the countries to resume negotiations on mutually acceptable mechanism of regional water use based on two draft agreeements for the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya basins. Only Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs supported this proposal, while other countries refused the idea to discuss draft documents that were prepared without their involvement. Instead, Kyrgyzstan proposed renewing cooperation within the framework of the 1998 Agreement between the Governments of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan on the use of water-energy resources in the Naryn-Syrdarya basin that makes provisions for a compensatory mechanism of water and energy use.
Principles of water allocation were laid in Protocol 566 of the meeting of the Scientific-Technological Council at the USSR Ministry of Land Reclamation and Water Resources (Minvodkhoz) of September 10, 1987, which approved the “Revised Master Plan for comprehensive use and conservation of water resources in the Amu Darya River basin” (Sredazgiprovodkhlopok, 1984), and in Protocol 413 of the meeting of the Scientific-Technological Council at the USSR Ministry of Land Reclamation and Water Resources (Minvodkhoz) of February 7, 1984, which approved the “Adjusting note to the revised Master Plan for comprehensive use and conservation of water resources in the Syr Darya river basin”. 37
OVERVIEW OF THE USE AND MANAGEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES IN CENTRAL ASIA © OECD 2020
