The countries of Central Asia spend large amounts of water and energy resources, while receiving minimal benefits. A high level of energy intensity and water intensity is noted in agriculture and industry, Sputnik reports.
Such conclusions are made in the report of the Eurasian Development Bank on the regulation of the water and energy complex of Central Asia.
The indicator of water use efficiency in the countries of Central Asia is lower than the world indicators, experts of the Eurasian Development Bank believe. In 2018, this indicator was estimated in the corridor from $0.842/m3 in Kyrgyzstan to $7.2/m3 in Kazakhstan. The regional average is $2.5/m3, which is eight times less than the global average.
"The world weighted average is $19.01/m3. In most (two-thirds) of the world's countries, water use efficiency is between $5 and $100/m3. Four out of five Central Asian countries (excluding Kazakhstan) are included in the list of 10 world outsiders (out of 168 analyzed countries) in this indicator," the report says.
But water resources are not unlimited, and the established format of cooperation in the Aral Sea basin does not lead to an increase in the efficiency of the use of these resources and has a negative impact on the environment in the Syrdarya and Amudarya river basins.
Since 1992, the countries of Central Asia have been trying to establish effective regulation of the water and energy complex in the format of multilateral regional and bilateral agreements, as well as regional associations.
However, none of them achieved their goals. It was not possible to implement the planned projects on the formation of a common market for the countries of the region, the creation of a water and energy consortium for the use of transboundary water resources. Despite the fact that these associations, as well as the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea, received great support from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, many other international organizations and financial institutions, none of the draft agreements on water and energy prepared in 1993-2010 interaction has not received a general agreement among the countries of Central Asia.
On November 26, 2021, the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, stressed the feasibility of creating an International Water and Energy Consortium (IWEC). Experts of the Eurasian Development Bank note that the IWEC of Central Asia could exist in the form of an international organization - a legal entity established on the basis of an international agreement.
"Alternatively, it is possible to work out options for the implementation of the IWEC and its subsidiaries within the framework of national law. A combination is possible: the IWEC itself as an international organization, and individual objects within the framework of national law. A legal study of the issue is needed to determine the most flexible and simple form," noted in EDB.
At the same time, the creation of a water-energy consortium in Central Asia has no analogues in world practice. First of all, the issues of regulating the activities of international consortia are absent in the national legislation of the countries of Central Asia. Another obstacle to the creation of a consortium is that the right to own and dispose of hydropower and irrigation facilities remains with the states of the region. An international financial institution, including the EDB, whose activities will be determined by a special agreement with a water and energy consortium, can act as the financial operator of the IWEC. The Eurasian Development Bank noted that the effective management of water and energy resources in the Aral Sea basin is a guarantee of prosperity for all countries of Central Asia.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
December 7, 2022