170
purposes (irrigation, drinking water, industrial production, ecological functions and
services, etc.) cannot be met with available water resources. As with most resources
on Earth, water scarcity is a far-reaching and ubiquitous problem.
The Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan is characterised by severe water scarcity.
Although the annual amount of water in the region is regarded as suffi cient – due to
high precipitation rates in the upstream river areas – there are seasonal fl uctuations:
There is too much water available in the wintertime, leading to fl ooding in the
Valley, whereas particularly during the summer months, the needs of water users
often cannot be met. As a consequence, water resources have to be managed,
through allocation to users according to certain decision-making rules or specifi c
allocation mechanisms (e.g. quotas).
In the literature, several factors are mentioned as being the cause of water scarcity in the Fergana Valley (Giese and Sehring 2007 ; Dukhovny and de Schutter
2011 ). While these causes are diverse in nature, they can nevertheless be grouped
into two major categories:
• One set of sources refers to the transboundary character of water resources in
Central Asia (e.g. Libert et al. 2008 ; Dukhovny and de Schutter 2011 , p. 280;
Eschment 2011 ; Wegerich et al. 2012 ). After the breakdown of the Soviet Union,
the then-Soviet provinces became independent states. During the Soviet era, the
interests of upstream users and downstream users were (more or less) balanced
via state planning: The downstream water users Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and
Kazakhstan had to deliver energy in the winter to the upstream users Kyrgyzstan
and Tajikistan, while the upstream users had to provide suffi cient water to the
downstream users in the summertime. This situation changed completely in the
early 1990s. The upstream users increasingly used the water resources for hydropower production in winter to safeguard their energy. The result was (and still is)
that too much water was delivered to downstream users in winter, while water for
downstream users (mainly for the irrigation of cotton plants) was insuffi cient in
the summer. Thus, the Central Asia water crisis is generally regarded as being the
result of a lack of (international) cooperation and coordination (Dukhovny and
de Schutter 2011 , p. 281).
• A second group of authors refers to the ineffi ciency of water resource management in the Fergana Valley (e.g. Abdullaev et al. 2007 ; Schlüter et al. 2010 ,
p. 621; Abdullaev and Atabaeva 2012 ; Kenjabaev and Frede 2015 , in this volume). These authors focus on the argument that despite the existence of large
infrastructure facilities for water irrigation in the Fergana Valley (i.e. the Fergana
Canal and a comprehensive canal system with far-reaching grids), there are high
water losses due to the outmoded infrastructure of the canal system and an ineffi cient use of water (Abdullaev et al. 2007 ; Libert et al. 2008 , p. 18; Dukhovny
et al. 2009 ). Water losses in the Fergana Valley are estimated to be in the order of
nearly 50 % of total water availability (Giese and Sehring 2007 , p. 12). A decline
in fi nancial resources is seen as a key reason for this. While in the past the water
sector was among the strongest sectors in Uzbekistan in terms of fi nancial state
fl ows (Abdullaev and Atabaeva 2012 , p. 106), the amount of money devoted to
B. Hansjürgens
purposes (irrigation, drinking water, industrial production, ecological functions and
services, etc.) cannot be met with available water resources. As with most resources
on Earth, water scarcity is a far-reaching and ubiquitous problem.
The Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan is characterised by severe water scarcity.
Although the annual amount of water in the region is regarded as suffi cient – due to
high precipitation rates in the upstream river areas – there are seasonal fl uctuations:
There is too much water available in the wintertime, leading to fl ooding in the
Valley, whereas particularly during the summer months, the needs of water users
often cannot be met. As a consequence, water resources have to be managed,
through allocation to users according to certain decision-making rules or specifi c
allocation mechanisms (e.g. quotas).
In the literature, several factors are mentioned as being the cause of water scarcity in the Fergana Valley (Giese and Sehring 2007 ; Dukhovny and de Schutter
2011 ). While these causes are diverse in nature, they can nevertheless be grouped
into two major categories:
• One set of sources refers to the transboundary character of water resources in
Central Asia (e.g. Libert et al. 2008 ; Dukhovny and de Schutter 2011 , p. 280;
Eschment 2011 ; Wegerich et al. 2012 ). After the breakdown of the Soviet Union,
the then-Soviet provinces became independent states. During the Soviet era, the
interests of upstream users and downstream users were (more or less) balanced
via state planning: The downstream water users Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and
Kazakhstan had to deliver energy in the winter to the upstream users Kyrgyzstan
and Tajikistan, while the upstream users had to provide suffi cient water to the
downstream users in the summertime. This situation changed completely in the
early 1990s. The upstream users increasingly used the water resources for hydropower production in winter to safeguard their energy. The result was (and still is)
that too much water was delivered to downstream users in winter, while water for
downstream users (mainly for the irrigation of cotton plants) was insuffi cient in
the summer. Thus, the Central Asia water crisis is generally regarded as being the
result of a lack of (international) cooperation and coordination (Dukhovny and
de Schutter 2011 , p. 281).
• A second group of authors refers to the ineffi ciency of water resource management in the Fergana Valley (e.g. Abdullaev et al. 2007 ; Schlüter et al. 2010 ,
p. 621; Abdullaev and Atabaeva 2012 ; Kenjabaev and Frede 2015 , in this volume). These authors focus on the argument that despite the existence of large
infrastructure facilities for water irrigation in the Fergana Valley (i.e. the Fergana
Canal and a comprehensive canal system with far-reaching grids), there are high
water losses due to the outmoded infrastructure of the canal system and an ineffi cient use of water (Abdullaev et al. 2007 ; Libert et al. 2008 , p. 18; Dukhovny
et al. 2009 ). Water losses in the Fergana Valley are estimated to be in the order of
nearly 50 % of total water availability (Giese and Sehring 2007 , p. 12). A decline
in fi nancial resources is seen as a key reason for this. While in the past the water
sector was among the strongest sectors in Uzbekistan in terms of fi nancial state
fl ows (Abdullaev and Atabaeva 2012 , p. 106), the amount of money devoted to
B. Hansjürgens