Human Development Report 2006 Human Development Report Office OCCASIONAL PAPER Water Conflict and Cooperation in Central Asia Erika Weinthal 2006/32 2 Water Conflict and Cooperation in Central Asia Prepared as Background Paper for the UN Human Development Report 2006 By Erika Weinthal Associate Professor of Environmental Policy Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University (
[email protected]) The numerous rivers that meander through Central Asia’s rugged terrain of mountains, steppe and desert have for centuries shaped its socio-political and economic landscape. As different rulers have sought to demarcate political borders and establish varied systems of governance, water continues to link the diverse populations that now inhabit the newly independent Central Asian states of the former Soviet Union -- Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.1 Water also physically connects the Soviet successor states with their neighbors to the South, East and North. The Amu Darya or what once was referred to as the Oxus provides a vivid illustration. After originating in the mountains of northern Afghanistan and Tajikistan, the Amu Darya traverses the territory of Tajikistan before flowing downstream through Khorazm province in Uzbekistan and Dashhowuz province in Turkmenistan on its long journey toward the autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan before ultimately emptying into the Aral Sea. Historically, the intersection of rivers in Central Asia, such as the point where the Surkhan Darya