The past three decades have witnessed a substantial increase in demand upon water resources in Central Asia. The area's population has more than doubled. The aggregate consumptive use of water in municipalities, industry, and agriculture has trebled. Even as consumptive use has increased, the quality of available water has deteriorated. Untreated human waste, industrial effluent, agricultural runoff, pesticides, herbicides, and chemical defoliants have entered the water supply. As a consequence of administrative reorganization and the transition to republican sovereignty, the Moscow-based economic ministries have lost their ability to administer the interrepublican water management system in Central Asia. Each of the republics of Central Asia has claimed exclusive jurisdiction over its natural resources, including the land and water. The centralized bureaucratic administration which managed Central Asian water resources in the past has now been or will soon be replaced by intergovernmental agreements among the republics of Central Asia. Accordingly, public policy institutions are currently being redesigned to manage Central Asia's water resources. This paper analyzes this process of institutional redesign in terms of collective action theory and the framework of common pool resources.
Topics: IWRM, Transboundary Water Management, Water Management,
Keywords:
IWRM, Transboundary water issues, Water Management,