8th MEETING OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE INTER-ISLAMIC NETWORK ON WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT (INWRDAM) AND THE PANEL MEETING "PRIORITY ISSUES ON WATER USE IN THE OIC COUNTRIES IN THE CONTEXT OF STRENGTHENING TRANSBOUNDARY WATER COOPERATION"
At the meeting of the Board of Governors the Inter-Islamic Network summed up the results of its operations since 2010. It was noted that a key task of INWRDAM remains the work on elaboration of the OIC Water Strategy, that should be finally approved late 2012 or early 2013 at the Ministerial Conference of OIC.
According to Dr. Murad Jabay Bino, Executive Director of Inter-Islamic Network on Water Resources Development and Management (INWRDAM), the important aspect of this issue is formation of OIC vision on use of transboundary water resources on the basis of cooperation of the countries concerned to find mutually acceptable solutions based on international norms and conventions of the states located in transboundary watercourse basins.
Promotion of disseminating advanced technologies of water management in Islamic countries including through donor support was noted as important priority of INWRAD activity. In particular, it was stated that during the reporting period, INRDAM cooperated with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) through implementation of projects on organization of training programs on water management and dissemination of advanced technologies for processing waste water.
The meeting participants supported the Uzbek side regarding appropriateness of establishing communications between IFAS and INWRDAM to help attract donors for implementation of projects on social and ecological restoration of Priaralie within the ASBP-3 program.
The Inter-Islamic Network Leaders also agreed to include in its work plan for 2012-2014 the Uzbek initiative to hold a seminar: "Development of irrigation and land reclamation systems for agriculture. Uzbekistan's experience" in Tashkent, probably in the first half of 2013. In this regard, M.Bino stressed that Uzbekistan, having one of the most developed irrigated farming in the Islamic world, accumulated a unique experience in the rational use and management of limited water resources for irrigated agriculture and land reclamation.
The meeting approved the application of the Republic of Tajikistan to join INWRDAM. In this regard M.Bino stressed that the entry of Uzbekistan into this organization in 2010 stimulated the growing interest of all the Central Asian countries to INWRDAM's activity, and resulted in this decision of the official Dushanbe. According to him, currently negotiations with Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan about their entry into INWRDAM is being conducted.
Cooperation in the management of transboundary water resources becomes more and more important. "Today, most of the Islamic countries face problems of water shortages, including problems related to water allocation in transboundary rivers", - he said. According to him, the exchange of views and information on how to address these issues meets the interest of all members of OIC.
Source: MAWR RUz
Conclusions and Recommendations of the Expert Group Meeting on:
“Priority water issues among OIC countries with emphasis on strengthening trans-boundary water cooperation”
9-13 July 2012, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The experts attending the meeting on: “Priority water issues among OIC countries with emphasis on strengthening trans-boundary water cooperation” which was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia during July 9-13, 2012 recommended the following conclusions and recommendations:
- Water should be recognized as a tool for community development, peace building and preventive diplomacy. To incorporate all of the physical, political and economic characteristics for a trans-boundary river basin, a process for cooperative watershed management is vital. For this, water should be managed based on river basins, not only on administrative boundaries.
- Well managed water resources will benefit both the people and the environment through the principles of security, sustainability and collaborative governance.
- Trans-boundary river basin cooperation based on principles of equity, fairness and no harm will help improve the quality of life of the people living in a river basin.
- Efficient trans-boundary cooperation requires that respective OIC countries to be an active members of the global/regional water management processes.
- Climate change and environmental concerns require collecting accurate and reliable data and sharing it with neighboring countries in order to promote equitable and effective trans-boundary cooperation.
- Integrated water resources management of a country as well as of a basin leads to sustainable water resources securing availability of safe and sufficient water for the present and the future generations.
- International experience dictates that collaborative management of trans-boundary water resources provide manifold benefits than individual development done domestically. Benefit of cooperation is more than cost of non-cooperation.
- Collaboration efforts in innovative approaches and experiences, such as nano-technology…etc., should be promoted among the OIC member countries to achieve water security.
- INWRDAM is one of the important platforms to share knowledge and experiences on water agreements among OIC member countries.
- INWRDAM can play a constructive role in collaborative management of trans-boundary waters.
The OIC experts that participated in the above mentioned meeting in Kuala Lumpur believe that implementation of the above set of recommendation could help OIC countries to enhance trans-boundary water cooperation among other countries.
Tajikistan being the initiator of the UN GA Resolution 65/154 declaring 2013 as International Year of Water Cooperation invites all OIC member countries to participate in the international conference on water cooperation to be held on September 2013 in Dushanbe.
VISIT OF AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY AND PLENIPOTENTIARY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, VLADIMIR TYURDENEV
On 20 July the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation, Mr. V.L. Tyurdenev, has visited SIC ICWC and familiarized with works and results of SIC's activity on ensuring cooperation among countries of the region concerning joint management of water resources in Central Asia. In particular, the Ambassador inquired about development of information system, its information sources and financial support as well as the provided information. He also was informed about the SIC's activity for developing and maintaining the network of EECCA water management organizations funded by UNECE through the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.
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