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Central Asian leaders met in Kazakhstan on Friday to seek to agree on common policies on water management in a region where scarce resources often spark conflict.
In the five former Soviet Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan), 80 percent of the land area is desert and grassland, and interruptions to water supplies are commonplace.
“It is necessary to develop a new integrated water policy based on equal and fair water use and strict implementation of obligations,” Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who hosted the summit, was quoted as saying by the presidential website.
The way water resources are distributed in Central Asia has remained unchanged since Soviet times, but it remains problematic: water-rich countries trade water for electricity from energy-rich countries.
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, both of which have more water resources than most other countries, often clash over control of these resources.
Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov on Friday called for the creation of a “mutually economically beneficial mechanism for water and energy cooperation,” taking into account “the limited volume of water resources and their importance for the entire region.”
Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev stressed the need to adopt a “regional strategy for rational use of water resources of transboundary rivers.”
Experts say the water levels of Central Asia's major rivers, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, are expected to continue to decline over the next few years.
Additionally, water scarcity due to global warming is exacerbated by huge waste due to outdated infrastructure.
After three years of tensions, Central Asian countries are now trying to coordinate efforts on many fronts, especially water management, as demand for agriculture and energy production grows in a region of some 80 million people.
Another concern for Central Asian governments is that the Taliban are building the Kosh Tepa Canal for irrigation in northern Afghanistan, which could further threaten water supplies.
bk-am/cad/yad
