Water Resources Allocation and Agriculture: Transitioning from Open to Regulated Access
The book brings together a range of leading scholars and practitioners to compile an international account of water allocation policies supporting a transition to sustainable water use in regions where agriculture is the dominant water use. In Section 1, the collection canvasses five key cross-cutting issues shaping the challenge of sustainable water allocation policy, such as legal and economic perspectives, the role of politics, the setting of environmental flows, and the importance of indigenous rights. Section 2 presents 13 national, state and transboundary case studies of water allocation policy, covering cases from Europe, the Americas, Central Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific region. These case studies highlight novel and innovative elements of water allocation regimes, which respond to the cross-cutting issues addressed in Section 1, as well as local challenges and social and environmental imperatives. The book provides a comprehensive account of water allocation in a range of international settings and provides a reference point for practitioners and scholars worldwide wishing to draw on the latest advances on how to design and implement sustainable water allocation systems.
ISBN: 9781789062779 (print)
ISBN: 9781789062786 (eBook)
ISBN: 9781789062793 (ePUB)
Chapter 18: Transboundary water allocation in the Amudarya Basin of Central Asia
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Published:August 2022
Dinara Ziganshina, 2022. "Transboundary water allocation in the Amudarya Basin of Central Asia", Water Resources Allocation and Agriculture: Transitioning from Open to Regulated Access, Josselin Rouillard, Christina Babbitt, Edward Challies, Jean-Daniel Rinaudo
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Abstract
This chapter reviews the transboundary water allocation system in the Amudarya Basin shared by Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The key principles and rules of water allocation in this basin have been set in the Soviet time and validated in 1992 after the countries gained their independence. The treaty-based flexible and specific water allocation formula (percentage of flow) and the operation of joint bodies helped to preserve the resilience of the system during transition. The system would benefit, however, from improved forecasting and an early warning system, annual and long-term planning, coordinated multi-year flow regulation, robust water conservation plans, sound strategies and procedures to deal with droughts and floods. Given the increasing water demand and diminishing water supply in the near future, a more integrated basin allocation planning is required.