OSCE TRANS-ASIAN VECTOR
The first Trans-Asian Forum of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly was held in Almaty.
The event, going on under the motto “Trans-Asian dimension of the OSCE:
an inseparable part of security”, brought together parliamentarians from
25 OSCE participating States, delegates from partner States, representatives
of structures, having a status of observers in OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, and
authoritative international organizations. President N.A. Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan
took part in the forum.
Opening the forum, the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Bruce George,
stated that today Central Asia is a region, which is of a great interest for
the entire world, and holding the forum in Almaty is a grave forward step taken
by OSCE, Kazakhstan and the region as a whole. The similar measures enable to
study ways of promoting cooperation among parliamentarians, contribute to positive
achievements in each of three main dimensions, and, thus, assure regional safety.
The report of Prof. Alexander Karius, Director of German Research Institute,
was dedicated to serious environmental problems of Central Asian region. High
pollution of Amudarya and Syrdarya river basins and the destiny of the Aral Sea
cause a great concern of experts. In the recent years the desiccated sea was
in the center of the world attention, but as À. Karius said we underestimated
these problems. Moreover, they should be solved comprehensively. The professor
sees a big potential in so-called sectoral development, in involving municipal
and other regional structures in this activity.
OSCE specialists held a number of workshops in Central Asia, now the next three-year
project, designed to raise environmental awareness of population and non-governmental
organizations, is being prepared with the assistance of the Swiss Government.
Soon the reports, prepared by ecological scientists, will be discussed jointly
with the Ministers of Environment of five Central Asian countries. À.
Karius stakes also on parliamentarians in this work.
The report of ICWC Scientific-Information Center Director Prof. V. Dukhovny was
dedicated to shared water resources use and allocation. He began from the Aral
Sea, noting that everybody should radically change his/her attitude to water
resources. Getting used from Soviet times to that “everything is public
around, everything is mine around”, our region came to a critical line
in water use over 20 years from 1960 to 1980. But in the 1980s with the entire
world we came round and began to regard life-giving water more carefully. For
the recent 20 years total water use sharply reduced from 120 to 103 billion cubic
meters. The reporter noted that the fate of water resources depended on the cooperation
of the region’s countries, and common water policy worked out by them.
Not by chance, the ministers of Central Asian states gathered immediately after
the USSR’s collapse in September 1991 in Tashkent to discuss this issue,
and by February following year an Intergovernmental Agreement on joint water
resources use was signed by Central Asian countries, and Interstate Commission
for Water Coordination, which now directly governs water resources in the region,
was established.
In five countries of the region, about 20 pilot fields, where local farmers are
trained to improve field productivity given the same water amount, have already
been created with the assistance of international organizations. In Ferghana
Valley, where water issue is the most critical, such system is being created
on the area of 140,000 ha with the support of the Swiss International Development
Agency. Furthermore, automated remote monitoring of constructions in the Syrdarya
River basin has been introduced here with the assistance of foreign partners,
as a result of which water allocation accuracy has considerably increased.
When considering water issues, the participants of the discussion rose the problems
of transboundary rivers and possible Siberian river water transfer to Central
Asia as well.
Summarizing two days of the forum, OSCE PA President Bruce George called the
event “astonishingly successful”. He marked the main result as achievement
of a significant consensus of TAF participating States. For a short time the
delegates managed to discuss many aspects of security, further development of
democratic institutes.
The forum participants noted that the main purpose to ensure parliamentary dialogs
on assuring security in Trans-Asian region, promoting democratic institutes was
achieved.
INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF BASIN ORGANOZATIONS (INBO)
SIC ICWC Director Prof. V.A. Dukhovny attended on 17-18 June 2003 INBO headquarters,
situated in Paris.
Prof. V.A. Dukhovny stated the vision of IWRM for Central Asian region as a
whole and for transboundary rivers. IWRM within the framework of GWP Toolbox
suffers from the lack of understanding that IWRM tools can not come to nothing
more than institutional and juridical measures. A wide base for technical,
engineering and economic supporting measures is needed both at national and
international levels. Firstly, it includes:
- Requirements for Hydromet Service; forecasts; losses, etc.
- Requirements for hydrometry technology;
- Modeling plan, allocation and adjustment;
- Environmental monitoring and requirements;
- Sanitation requirements and releases;
- Water allocation technology and so on
- Information system, database;
- Knowledge base;
- Training system;
- Water conservation system.
The role of INBO:
- Create IWRM guidance at transboundary level;
- Support and stimulate introducing it;
- Develop the main provisions on introduction (certain steps have been
taken in this direction, the draft guidance has been developed);
- Organize IWRM expertise at interstate level;
- Create a mechanism for improving international water law; this point
is of a great importance in view of special necessity of resisting “hydro
egoism”.
INBO-GWP partnership should develop not only in form of jointly promoting “Associated
program”, but also in form of exactly allocating obligations between
INBO and GWP. INBO should mainly represent governmental and interstate organizations,
and GWP - partnership, based on the initiative of NGOs; GWP organizes enforcement
from the bottom through NGOs and mass media, INBO – through “key
persons” and their representatives by demonstrating best examples and
joint discussions.
From these positions, a big importance is attached to the creation of INBO
in CIS. Prof. V.A. Dukhovny supported this proposal for forming just in isolation
from East European countries, since their conditions of getting used to civilization
are completely different. It would be expedient to create in Central Asian
countries a wider information comparative test base in form of CIS INBO. An
important component of such INBO might be GWP CACENA.
The participants discussed an issue on creating INBO Scientific Committee as
an “Advisory Council”, which will:
- create principal documents;
- assist in forming new BWOs;
- struggle for international law;
Groups structure:
- organizational;
- juridical;
- financial;
- modeling;
- information;
- training;
- technical instruments.
ON “IWRM-FERGHANA” PROJECT ACTIVITY
Activity “Pilot canals”
Within the activity regular monitoring of pilot canals functioning is kept.
The aim of monitoring is tracing, assessing and analyzing changes in water
management on pilot canals as a result of introducing institutional and technical
decisions during implementation of “IWRM-Ferghana” Project.
Decadal transfer of information on daily and decadal discharge for three pilot
canals and other necessary information to “IWRM-Ferghana” Project
office is put in order. Below the contents of the available and planned information:
Daily
- average daily discharge (fact).
Decadal
- average decadal discharge (plan, limit, fact);
- average decadal release from pilot canals (fact).
Seasonal (vegetation period, non-vegetation period)
- costs of O&M of pilot canals (including at the expense of state
budget and water users);
- leading crop yields (cotton, grain);
- irrigated land use intensity (catch crops accounting);
- gross income;
- collection rate for water bills (Aravan-Akbura and Gulyakandoz pilot
canals);
- emergency situations on pilot canals (reason, amount);
- conflict situations on pilot canals (reason, amount, how they were solved).
Monitoring objects are:
- pilot canal headworks;
- pilot canal outlets (main branches, pumping plants and installations);
- balance sections;
- water users (located in pilot canal command zone of the country, oblast,
rayon, all WUAs, separated collective farms, separated
private farms).
For assessing the results of monitoring on pilot canals, the system
of indicators has been developed and is being used:
Coefficient of water availability:
- coefficient of water availability in relation to
plan (fact/plan);
- coefficient of water availability in relation
to limit (fact/limit).
Coefficient of water supply sustainability:
- coefficient of average daily water supply sustainability;
- coefficient of average decadal water supply
sustainability.
Coefficient of water supply uniformity:
- coefficient of decadal water supply uniformity;
- coefficient of seasonal water supply
uniformity;
- coefficient of water supply uniformity
in head and end sections of
pilot canals.
Coefficient of efficiency:
- technical;
- organizational;
- operational.
Coefficient of withdrawal quality.
Coefficient of water supply quality.
Coefficient of water management
quality.
Coefficient of effectiveness.
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