No. 4 (162) June 2009

THE REGULAR 53rd ICWC MEETING

The 53rd regular meeting of the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination of Central Asia (ICWC) chaired by S.Yokubzod, Minister of Land Reclamation and Water Resources of the Republic of Tajikistan, was held on 4 June, 2009, in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

The following items were discussed in the agenda:

1. Regarding results of vegetation period 2008-2009 and approval of water withdrawal limits from the Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers during forthcoming vegetation period 2009, and coordination of the predictive regime of the reservoirs cascade (BWO “Amudarya” and BWO “Syrdarya” are responsible for implementation).
2. Analysis of the ICWC decrees implementation by the executive bodies (commission to the ICWC secretariat, Minutes n51, 18 September 2008)
3. Regarding realization of the approved plan for rotation of the ICWC executive bodies.
4. Miscellaneous.
5. Regarding agenda and venue of the next 54th ICWC meeting.

The ICWC members took into consideration the information of BWO "Amudarya" and BWO "Syrdarya" about implementation of the withdrawal limits and of the operations mode of the reservoirs cascade and the water withdrawal limits by states in the Amudarya and Syrdarya Rivers Basins for the non-vegetation period 2008-2009.

At the meeting the planned operation modes of the reservoirs cascade and the water withdrawal limits by states in the Amudarya River Basin for the vegetation period 2009 at 100% water availability level were approved. In case of changing the water quantity the BWO "Amudarya" has been allowed to correct the whole above mentioned according to the portion of each state.

To guarantee the planned water releases through the Takhiatashsky waterworks facility is given to BWO "Amudarya".

The planned operation modes of the Naryn-Syrdarinsky reservoirs cascade will be approved after agreement on the Toktogul reservoir operation mode for the vegetation period 2009. Before the agreement will be reached the states-water users have to use the water withdrawal with limitation of up to 25%.

Participants took into consideration information given by the ICWC secretariat about the analysis of the ICWC decrees implementation by the executive bodies.

The ICWC executive bodies were entrusted to take immediate measures on realization of the ICWC decisions in proper time.

The ICWC secretariat is entrusted to send for consideration by the IFAS administration “Statute of the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination of Central Asia”, the draft agreements “About strengthening the organizational framework of management, protection and rational use of water resources of interstate watercourses in the Aral Sea Basin " and "About information exchange for supporting the database on integrated use and protection of water resources in the Aral Sea Basin" signed by the ICWC members for further realization at the governmental level.

Participants took into consideration information given by the ICWC secretariat about realization of “Regulations about rotation of the Central Asia ICWC executive bodies and its officials”.

The ICWC members will realize the approved rotation scheme and will present results of its realization to the ICWC secretariat during the month.

According to the Article 3.2 of “Regulations about rotation of the Central Asia ICWC executive bodies and its officials” it is taken into consideration the official statement of the Republic of Kazakhstan about refusal to host the SIC ICWC.

According to 4 item of “Regulations about rotation of the Central Asia ICWC executive bodies and its officials” parties will consider the matter about nomination of candidatures on the next meeting in order to guarantee a collective nature in the governance of the BWOs and the SIC ICWC.

The ICWC members make a request to SDC, ADB and GTZ to provide construction of new hydrological stations and reconstruction of existing ones which are of interstate significance, and to supply them with telecommunication, in the framework of project of the Regional hydrometeorological centre (RHMC).

It was decided to establish the work committee on investigation of location and on share holding in construction and design of the new hydrological stations with aim to accurate and equitable water allocation at the interstate watercourses.

The ICWC members in pursuance of decrees of the Heads of Central Asian States of 11.01.1994 (item 10) and 9.04.1999 (items 5, 10 and 11) will give the lists of officials, machinery, mechanisms and workers to the ICWC secretariat for preparation of the unified form of certificates and other relevant documents in order to cross the borders of Central Asian states for implementation of water management activity of the interstate significance.

The next 54th ICWC meeting will be held on September, 2009, in Uzbekistan.

1st ANNUAL PROGRESS REVIEW MEETING OF APWF (ASIA PACIFIC WATER FORUM) KNOWLEDGE HUBS

Just one year ago the APWF Knowledge Hubs Network was launched on 26 June 2008 in Singapore, with support of ADB and Singapore Water PUB. This network was created on the basis of 13 existing organizations located in different countries of the region, including the SIC ICWC which is registered as the Central Asia IWRM Resource Center (including also the ICWC Training Center and the ICWC Data-Computing Center). Now the following centers exist and function:

1. Urban Water Management – PUB WaterHub, Singapore;
2. Disaster Risk Reduction and Flood Management – ICHARM, Japan;
3. Water and Climate Change Adaptation in Southeast Asia – NAHRIM, Malaysia;
4. River Basin Organizations and Management – CRDOM, Indonesia;
5. Water Quality Management in River Basins – K-water, South Korea;
6. Decision Support Systems for River Basin Management - Hydroinformatics – CHIRB, Chine;
7. Water Governance – Institute of Water Policy, Singapore;
8. Irrigation Service Reform – IWMI, Sri-Lanka;
9. Integrated Water Resources Management in Central Asia – SIC ICWC, Uzbekistan;
10. Integrated Water Resources Management in the Pacific – Pacific IWRM Resource Centre, Fiji;
11. Erosion and Sedimentation in River Basins – IRTCES, China;
12. Healthy Rivers and Aquatic Ecosystems – IWC, Australia;
13. Water Resources Management in Mountainous Areas – ICIMOD, Nepal.

For more information about the APWF Knowledge Hubs, visit www.apwf-knowledgehubs.net

1st Annual Progress Review Meeting of APWF KnowledgeHubs was held on 24 June 2009 in Singapore.

Representatives of these centers presented the results of their activity during the last year and also discussed the most critical issues related to the network efficiency. The following items have been discussed at the meeting:

• Orientation onto the network clients, analysis of the interested participants and consumers, new approaches to the communications
• How to adapt the national knowledge bases to the regional level?
• How to ensure marketing of the knowledge centers in the Asia Pacific Region and at the global level?
• How to organize the control and coordination of the concurrent themes and experience in some sub-regions?
• What is the knowledge centers network value and how to estimate progress?
• Whether the self-repayment network strategy is needed and how to attract the donors?
• Whether there are new technologies for management improvement and knowledge dissemination?

At the second part of the meeting the new centers were accepted to the network and their business plans on the following themes were discussed:

• Transboundary Water Resources Management – Mekong River Commission, Laos;
• Water and Climate Change Adaptation in South Asia – Energy and Resources Institute, India;
• Groundwater Management – IGES, Japan;
• Sanitation – Institutions Consortium, Japan.

At the meeting it was underlined that the following priority themes, for which the candidates to maintain the network centers will be appointed in the near future, still haven’t been covered:

• Water Supply for Rural Areas and Small Towns;
• Water and Energy;
• Watershed Management.

ADB invited the UNESCO-IHE institute as the resource center in order to guarantee the network coordination. Its activity will be coordinated with the Network secretariat, which will be created in the near future at the ADB headquarters in Manila, Philippines.

Also for monitoring of the service quality the Supervisory Committee was created on the basis of secret voting and the following specialists were selected:

• Vadim Sokolov – SIC ICWC, Uzbekistan
• Herat Mantritilake – IWMI, Sri Lanka
• Peter Olivier – International Water Centre, Australia.

The next coordination meeting will be held in Manila at the end of October 2009, together with the training seminar for managers of databases and the training centers representing the network centers. This seminar will be organized by UNESCO-IHE on the basis of analysis of those critical matters, which were discussed in Singapore.

V. Sokolov