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Central Asian Water & An Aral Proverb: “In Every Drop Of Water There Is A Grain of Gold”
April 4th, 2009
In the latest SAISPHERE 2008, John Daly details more about the most severe conundrum facing Central Asian nations: water. As the report notes: The implosion of the U.S.S.R. in December 1991 sundered a country of 15 constituent republics into 15 new nations, which were immediately faced with the consequences of the dissolution of an economically […]
Read more »Transferring Water From Wet Regions to Dry Regions
March 21st, 2009
Via Radio Free Europe, an interesting look at the possibility of exporting water from wet countries to dry ones, specifically a 2,000 kilometer canal which would send water from the Ob River in Siberia to the Aral Sea basin in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. As the article notes: “…Many parts of the northern hemisphere — such […]
Read more »Hydro-Solidarity and Transboundary River Issues in Central Asia & The Middle East
March 20th, 2009
Via Terra Daily, an interesting look at three of the most challenging regions managing trans-boundary river issues and the chance for “hydro-solidarity” to overcome rising tensions in the Middle East and former Soviet Central Asia, both water-deprived regions with rapidly growing populations along with rising agricultural, industrial and energy requirements. As the article notes: “…Three […]
Read more »Lake Balkhash: A Future Aral Sea?
March 3rd, 2009
Via Registan, an interesting look at Lake Balkhash which – due to the international nature of the watershed, the development of oil in China and heavy industry on the its shores – may unfortunately be on track for a similar fate as The Aral Sea unless China, Kazakhstan and the other Central Asian nations work […]
Read more »Russian Interest in Central Asian Water
February 1st, 2009
Via Terra Daily, an interesting report on Russia’s increasing interest in Central Asia’s water resources. As the article notes “…Within the “Stans” — former Soviet republics Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — an added element in the matrix is water, used by Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan largely to generate hydroelectric power, while the downstream states […]
Read more »Central Asian Water: The Thirsty Dragon, The Aral Sea, and Ongoing Dilemmas
January 23rd, 2009
As we have discussed in this blog previously, Central Asian countries are divided into water suppliers (the mountainous countries of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) and water consumers (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan). But the Central Asian water crisis is not just about the fate of the Aral Sea. It is about the management of the entire basin, including […]
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