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Tajikistan and Uzbekistan Sign Water & Power Agreement
February 23rd, 2009
Via Radio Free Europe, a brief but interesting report on a water & power sharing agreement between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. As the article notes “…Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have signed an agreement establishing closer economic ties that will ease the electricity shortage in Tajikistan. Parts of Tajikistan have been without power since December, when Uzbekistan stopped […]
Read more »Tajikistan’s Dam(n) Trust?
February 17th, 2009
Via The Foreign Policy Association, an interesting look at Tajikistan’s considerable freshwater reserves and how they impact (may be impacted) by developments in Central Asia. As the article notes “…In contrast to its’ neighboring countries with vast oil and gas resources, Tajikistan has the actual most important resource in the world, large reserves of fresh […]
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 […]
Read more »Politics of Water in Central Asia – In Pictures
December 10th, 2008
Via Time, an interesting collection of stark photographs & commentary detailing the water politics of Central Asia, specifically how four former Soviet Republics fight for control of a precious resource. Abundance Central Asia is rich in water, but 90% of it is concentrated in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, above. In Soviet times, the […]
Read more »Could Siberian River Water Be Diverted to Save a Drying/Dying Aral Sea?
December 6th, 2008
Via Window on Eurasia, an interesting look at how the rapid drying up of the Aral Sea in Central Asia – it is likely to completely disappear within months – has sparked new interest in the possibility that Moscow could divert Siberian river water to the region to save not only the sea but also […]
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