The Aral Sea basin region in Central Asia faces two key challenges: a lack of investment in water and energy infrastructure, as well as insufficient levels of regional interaction.
These circumstances lead to a decrease in the efficiency of water and energy resource utilization, which in turn makes food security extremely vulnerable and causes significant economic losses.
As noted by EDB experts, a comprehensive approach that takes the regional context into account is necessary to address these issues.
“In Central Asia, limited water resources are used for both irrigation and energy needs. In the Aral Sea basin, the main sources of water are two major transboundary rivers — the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya.
However, the distribution of these water resources is extremely uneven: 77% of the annual runoff is formed in the upper reaches — Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, while 85% of water resources are used for irrigation in the lower reaches — Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan,” the authors of the report state.
According to analysts, multilateral development banks (MDBs) can play a key role in coordinating efforts to address regional issues related to water and energy security.
