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The Aral Sea and Other Water Issues in Central Asia
June 27th, 2008
As reported by the Foreign Policy Association, World Bank President and former US diplomat Robert B. Zoellick recently met with President Nazarbayev and the Kazak government to discuss several joint World Bank/Kazak projects. As the article notes: “…another key project that needs to garner not just attention, but action: the disappearing Aral Sea. The Aral […]
Read more »Central Asia: Water Tensions Soon To Boil Over?
June 20th, 2008
From Radio Free Europe, a detailed look at how age-old water problems are bringing tensions to a boil in Central Asia. As the article notes: “…The cities, towns, and villages of western Uzbekistan, and western Central Asia in general, are facing the same hot summer short of water — a cruel fate considering many of these areas […]
Read more »Central Asia’s Water Challenges: Uzbekistan’s Legacy of Salt
June 17th, 2008
Via The New York Times, an interesting article detailing the destructive environmental and human legacy left behind in Uzbekistan, a land-locked country whose rivers were diverted to grow cotton on arid land, causing the Aral Sea, a large saltwater lake, to lose more than half of its surface area in 40 years. As noted in […]
Read more »Water Squabbles Irrigate Tensions in Central Asia
June 17th, 2008
Via Reuters, more on water-related tensions in Central Asia: “…Gulbakhor’s despair, shared by millions of Tajiks in this tiny ex-Soviet nation north of Afghanistan, reflects a growing sense of alarm throughout Central Asia where stability depends on the region’s scarcest and most precious commodity: water. From tiny irrigation canals to the powerful Soviet-era hydroelectric plants, […]
Read more »Water shortages in Kyrgyzstan Cause Serious Problems in Uzbekistan
June 17th, 2008
From Eurasia.net, a report that low water levels in the Toktogul dam of Kyrgyzstan are having an adverse impact on Uzbek agriculture, as Toktogul is the main water reservoir in Fergana Valley. As the article notes: “…Uzbekistan is already having problems with irrigation of cotton fields in its Fergana valley part. The abnormal weather – […]
Read more »Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan: Water Problems = Cross-Border Issues
May 23rd, 2008
As reported by New Eurasia.net, problems with water are becoming more vivid in the cross-border relations of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The recent visit of the Kyrgyz president to Tajikistan was sparked by the water problem which is mainly related to the delimitation of borders in Fergana Valley. As the article notes:  “…people do not know […]
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