Central Asia Water Resources Management (CA-WARM) Phase-I Project

Project Summary:

The project aimed to secure green growth in Central Asia through better water-resource management. Two of Central Asia’s major rivers—the Amu Darya and Syr Darya—provide over 90 percent of energy supply in Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic through hydropower. They also support irrigation farther downstream, helping the Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan economies stay afloat. However, poor water management has led to the salinization of up to 90 percent of agricultural land in these countries and a destitute and dry Aral Sea. Funding for this program will be used to investigate effective management and rational use of the waters of the Syr and Amu Darya rivers, fundamental to green growth for some 70 million people. Through analysis, institutional strengthening, and investment identification in the water and energy sectors in Central Asia, the focus of this program is to help transform the information, institutions, and investments for better water management in the region, increasing accessibility and reliability of water resources.

List of Activities:

• Prepare International Best Practice Review for Data Exchanges
• Promote Dialogue Among the Riparian Countries
• Knowledge Forum

Outcomes:

Output 1:

• International practices inform national and regional work programs

Output 2:

• 2-1.Regional working groups and Steering Committee formed
• 2-2. Regional work program agreed

Output 3:

• Forum convened with presentations from each of six countries and international experts

Outcomes: 

The proposed activities directly enhance the potential for a major (>$85 million) project for strengthening analytical capacity for smart and informed decision making and the underlying the water information management system, namely CAWaRM.  The project will have measurable outcomes that can be assessed to include: a) access to reliable water resources monitoring data and forecasts improved (e.g. number of WRM agencies accessing/using improved water resources data); b) lasting institutional knowledge creation and sharing in support of an institutional roadmap for water resources management at the regional level, c) transformative actions to address key water resources issues in the Central Asia region emerging from better and more trusted and transparent information on water; and d) better integration of forecast information for disaster management, safety of hydraulic structures, and operational coordination under extreme climatic conditions. CAWaRM will itself include some priority investments to modernize water resources information systems management; more profoundly, a more trusted, comprehensive and effective information system on water resources will support both national and regional scale investments in needed water infrastructure.

Collaboration with K-Partners and Others:

• WBG internal partners:  collaboration with the Hydrometeorology Modernization (CAHMP), Climate Resilience (CAMP4CA) project teams, coordination with GP Environment and Natural Resources and GP Water teams as well as GP Energy for the connections with hydropower.
• External partners: The multi-donor CAEWDP program will fund critical TA for the preparation of the CAWaRM, including baseline and needs assessments for both equipment and institutional strengthening (including capacity building).  In addition, a proposal will be submitted to the ECADEV Fund to support recipient-executed preparation of investments under the project.  Areas of possible collaboration with Korean institutions include K-Water Academy for information technology, and Ehwa University  for environmental informatics, environmental monitoring, science and engineering; and insights from K-Water IWRM experience such as the Hydro-Intelligent Tool Kit on management systems for hydrologic data, flood analysis,  precipitation forecasting, reservoir water supply systems, and GIOS – Integrated Real-time Hydrological Data Acquisition and Process Systems