For a stronger water sector cooperation: Supporting Swiss Diplomacy in Central Asia

The collapse of the political, social and economic system in Central Asia in the early 1990s has resulted in intensive competition for water resources in and between Central Asian countries. Despite numerous efforts by international partners to strengthen regional cooperation and dialogue, cooperation has remained very limited.

Against this background, this project supports the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in strengthening regional political commitment to water cooperation.

Together with the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC), in 2017 adelphi published a study on the reasons and costs of inaction, including an analysis of possible future scenarios and proposals on how to improve cooperation. During the first hlaf of 2018, the results of the study were disseminated to governments and other stakeholders in Central Asia as well as the international water community, e.g. at a UNECE workshop on benefit-sharing, the World Water Forum in Brasilia, Brasil and the Central Asian International Environmental Forum in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. A policy brief summarizes the study, as does an article on climatediplomacy.org.