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number, since the entrepreneurial stratum of labor migration is distinguished by a higher educational and qualification level.
Author of the abstract - Elena Dmitrieva
ELENA DMITRIEVA. WATER CONSUMPTION IN CENTRAL ASIAN COUNTRIES IN POST-SOVIET PERIOD: CONFLICT OF INTERESTS // The article was written for the bulletin "Russia and the Moslem World."
Keywords: water resources, water consumption, conflict of interests, irrigation, Central Asian region, post-Soviet area.
Elena Dmitrieva,
Senior Research Associate,
Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences, RAS
Abstract. This article is a review of certain problems of water consumption in Central Asia. Special attention is devoted to the problems of access to water resources of the region and their distribution between its countries in the post-Soviet period.
Central Asia is a region very rich in water due to its natural and geographical features. Despite this the water problem has not only remained unresolved after the disintegration of the U.S.S.R., but, on the contrary, it has become exacerbated and touched all five countries of the region: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
At present these Central Asian states are characterized by a high birth rate, high poverty level, and drastic need for resources to develop their economies. The water resources in Central Asia are mainly used for agricultural purposes, hydropower generation, and for industrial needs, and are the main factor influencing economic and political stability in the countries of the region.
One of the specific features of water consumption in the region is the fact that the formation of water resourced takes place
mainly in one region, namely, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and their consumption in neighboring regions - Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. All Central Asian republics consume water from the two main sources - the Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers. This is why the problems of the transborder use of water (access to it, right to use it, and balance and regime of its consumption, support and restoration of water ecosystems, etc.) are so important in interstate relations.
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are situated in the upper reaches of the Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers. These are mountainous districts where the drain of these rivers is formed. The glacier reserves of water are their main resource of the clean fresh water. Hydropower plants and water reservoirs are on the territory of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan which enable them to control the water flow to neighboring Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan which are situated in the lower reaches of these rivers. These three republics, due to their geographical position, are the main consumers of water for agricultural needs (irrigational land cultivation).
In Soviet times there was a well-tested system of water consumption and energy supply in operation. Water supplies from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan was compensated by their deliveries of oil, oil products and gas, as well as electric energy, especially in winter to the former two republics. There was a uniform energy system and economic connections which practically disintegrated with the collapse of the U.S.S.R. Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan began to sell energy resources to Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan at market prices, and if they failed to pay on time, they stopped supplies, thus causing an energy shortage in winter. In reply, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan began to reduce the volume of water drain to the republics in the lower reaches of the rivers in summer, thus filling their own reservoirs in order to be able to generate more energy by their own forces.
The main problem of joint water consumption has been the fact that the energy requirements of the republics in the upper reaches of the rivers have entered into contradictions with the agricultural requirements of the republics in the lower reaches of the rivers.
In the post-Soviet period the water consumption system and the regime of electric energy supply were abolished, and new ones necessary for the functioning of a workable water and energy balance were not created due to the differing interests of independent neighboring countries and their rivalry for energy resources. Each of the five Central Asian republics constantly uses all and sundry levers of influence on one another, disregarding the fact that the entire region has been formed as a mutually connected and mutually dependent economic complex, where everything was mutually dependent (water and energy balances, division of labor, etc.).
Such policy of the newly-independent states in Central Asia has a negative effect on the use of the water resources of the region, because water consumption in each republic takes place without due agreements and account of interests of all countries of the region, which will result in a greater conflict between neighboring countries and will take a solution to urgent problems in an impasse. The countries situated in the lower teaches of the rivers will use greater volumes of water for irrigation in their agriculture, which will cause a shortage of water in the upper reaches of the rivers, and the countries situated there will increase the generation of electric energy, which will lead to a shortage of water in the lower basin. Thus, we face a conflict of interests of the regional countries.
The very regime of water consumption leads to a conflict situation in relation between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan (the energy regime of water consumption), on the one hand, and Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan (the irrigation regime of water consumption), on the other. The essence of the conflict boils down to the fact that in the irrigation regimes water is
consumed maximally in summer, and in the energy regime - in winter. In summer the countries in the upper reaches should replenish their reservoirs for the generation of big energy volumes required in winter, thus depleting the drain, so necessary for the countries in the lower reaches for irrigation. In winter evacuation of big masses of water takes place accompanying the generation of great volumes of electric energy, which causes the flooding of part of territory in low-lying countries. In order to avoid this, the countries in the upper-reaches need oil-and-gas resources of the above-mentioned countries in the winter period to maintain energy balance. This is why a way out of the situation would be the efforts of all countries of the region to reach an agreement in their joint rational management of the water resources, taking into account the interests of all independent republics.
In real life no such decision has been reached during the past quarter of a century due to the inability of these countries to agree with one another, as well as to certain technical and economic factors (absence of a modern irrigation system making it possible to consume water more effectively, refusal to grow hydrophilous crops, high cost of electric energy, etc.). The countries of the region proved unable to work out a uniform distribution system of water resources with due consideration of the interests of all sides.
In this case it would be necessary to have the third force in the person of international organizations and neighboring states, which are interested in resolving the water problem in Central Asia. Due to controversial decisions in the sphere of the transborder water consumption all Central Asian republics suffer great economic losses running into billions of dollars annually.
Moreover, uncoordinated actions may cause technical and economic consequences (uncontrolled water evacuation, crevasses, salinization of soil, etc.), whose consequences may be unpredictable not only to the given region, but also to neighboring countries. In the future, if there is no proper management and regulation such situation may become a source of interstate conflicts. The formation of independent states in Central Asia has
placed on the agenda the question of the rights of ownership of water among the consumer-countries. The desire of each Central Asian country to use the water resources of the region with maximal results only in one's own interests has violated the water consumption balance, which existed at the time of the U.S.S.R., and exacerbated the conflict situation in the region. Taking into account the high population growth rates, the water problem has turned into a factor of destabilization of the region demanding an immediate solution.
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