PROJECT FACTS

Phase I: 2001-2002
Phase II: 2002-2005
Phase III: 2005-2008
Phase IV: 2008-2010
Current Budget: USD 3.7 million
Cumulative Budget: USD 9 million
Project Location: Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
Implementing Agency: Interstate Commission for Water Co-ordination (ICWC) of Central Asia, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
Donor: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

Domain: Water Management and Disaster Risk Reduction

BACKGROUND

Water is the key resource in Central Asia, and this is where the main challenges lie for the region: poor public investment in water management, inter-sector competition (energy-irrigation), water scarcity due to shortage and waste and increasing downstream/upstream tensions.

The situation is especially difficult in the Ferghana Valley, which is shared between Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The state boundaries between the three countries make trans-border management of vital resources problematic and cause constant internal and interstate disputes.

The Ferghana Valley is the most densely populated area in Central Asia, where more than ten million people live. Under the Soviet Union, the irrigation system in the valley was constructed with the main goal of supporting the production of cotton fiber. Today, as a result of increased soil salinity, lack of fertilisers, inefficient irrigation regimes and deteriorating infrastructure, all major crops yields are progressively fluctuating.

There is a series of water management problems in the valley such as fragmentation, increased costs for maintenance and operation of water management and distribution infrastructures, as well as the scarcity of and limited access to water in the Ferghana Valley.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) began contributing to the reform of the irrigation sector in Central Asia in 2001. The goal of the Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) project is to improve and reorganize the institutional arrangements for water management in the Ferghana Valley. The project mainly addresses the possibilities for saving water, improving agricultural productivity, organising water administrations, promotion and institutional build-up of Water Users' Associations (WUA) and the improvement of water allocation mechanisms among the users and between the three countries.

The project is closely linked to the ongoing Canal Automation project which implies automation of the water infrastructure, including the installation of flow measuring and data transmission equipment. This technical backbone will lead to reorganization of irrigation management at canal level in the framework of the IWRM project.

Water User Association leaders mobilize farmers to clean-up their canal

Overall, the project aims to contribute to more secure livelihoods, increased environmental sustainability and greater social harmony, and it supports rural restructuring in Central Asian countries through improved management of water resources in the Ferghana valley.
To achieve the overall goal, the project plans to improve the effectiveness, reliability and equity of water delivery to the farm gate and plot in the project implementation area by introducing demand-oriented, transparent water allocation mechanisms among water users and between the countries.

The implementing agency for the project is the Interstate Commission for Water Co-ordination (ICWC) of Central Asia. The execution of the project is entrusted to an association between the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the Scientific Information Centre (SIC) of ICWC as the project contractors, in partnership with local water management organizations and collaborators (i.e. irrigation research institutes, NGOs etc.).

The inception phase of the Integrated Water Resource Management Project in the Ferghana Valley started in September 2001. During this phase, a detailed analysis was carried out of the legal, institutional, economic-financial and managerial issues, as well as an analysis and evaluation of earlier experiences, methodologies and systems developed by other donors and regional and state organizations in the water management sector.

The major achievements of the project during Phase II include an increased awareness amongst policy makers about the principles of IWRM; improved water distribution along canals; demonstrated bottom–up approach; demonstrated potential for increasing yields and water productivity by up to 30 percent.

The third phase of the project has triggered considerable changes in governance and management across the water hierarchy, and has gained acceptance in all thee countries of the hydrological water distribution. Its activities were aimed at improved efficiency of modern governance policies, management procedures and institutional arrangements introduced at the national, regional and local levels during the previous phases. The project also focuses on expansion of improved irrigation management practices and strengthening cooperation with other IWRM projects in the region.

The main results of this phase are the adoption of innovative solutions for irrigated canal management and sustainable water user associations as well as introduction of effective methods for sustainable financing of the system at the canal, WUA and farm level. These accomplishments have been acknowledged in an external review of the project.

Phase IV of the project concentrates on strengthening the achievements of the previous phases and addressing the gaps and challenges identified by the external review of the project, through consolidation and scaled-up experience, together with new innovative institutional arrangements achieved during Phase III.

OUTLOOK

By 2010 the project is committed to delivering the following key results:

• IWRM water governance principles and management procedures are fully introduced and practised at pilot canals and trans-boundary rivers;
• Joint Commissions are established and IWRM implementation in the pilot basins of small trans-boundary rivers introduced, with agreements reached on joint management of water resources;
• IWRM tools and management practices tested in the pilot areas are documented and prepared for dissemination;
• Donors and governments have a common understanding concerning the roles and scope, tasks and responsibilities from WUA to basin level in each country;
• National policies and the legal framework for dissemination of the IWRM approaches are in place;
• The financial and economic aspects as well as the ability to pay at different operational and management levels are assessed.