UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI VERONA DIPARTIMENTO DI TEMPO, SPAZIO, IMMAGINE E SOCIETA' SCUOLA DI DOTTORATO DI STUDI UMANISTICI DOTTORATO DI RICERCA IN BENI CULTURALI E TERRITORO Con il contributo di UNIVERSITA' DI VERONA CICLO /ANNO XXVI / 2011 TITOLO DELLA TESI DI DOTTORATO PROBLEMATICHE DI GESTIONE DELL'ACQUA E ANALISI DELL' IMPLEMENTAZIONE DELL' IWRM IN ASIA CENTRALE: UN APPROCCIO COMPARATIVO TRA LA MEDIA VALLE DELLO ZERAVSHAN (UZBEKISTAN) E LA VALLE DELL'ARYS (KAZAKHSTAN) IWRM IMPLEMENTATION ANALYSIS AND WATER MANAGEMENT ISSUES IN CENTRAL ASIA: A COMPARATIVE APPROACH BETWEEN MIDDLE ZERAVSHAN VALLEY (UZBEKISTAN) AND ARYS VALLEY (KAZAKHSTAN) REALIZZATA IN COTUTELA CON L’UNIVERSITÀ DI FRIBURGO (SVIZZERA) S.S.D. M / GGR-01 Tutori: Per l’Università di Verona Prof. SILVINO SALGARO Per l’Università di FRIBURGO Prof.ssa CHRISTINE BICHSEL Dottorando: Dott. ANDREA ZINZANI Firma _______________________ Department of Geosciences University of Fribourg (Switzerland) IWRM IMPLEMENTATION ANALYSIS AND WATER MANAGEMENT ISSUES IN CENTRAL ASIA: A COMPARATIVE APPROACH BETWEEN MIDDLE ZERAVSHAN VALLEY (UZBEKISTAN) AND ARYS VALLEY (KAZAKHSTAN) THESIS presented to the Faculty of Science of the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) in consideration for the award of the academic grade of Doctor scientiarum mathematicarum (or Doctor scientiarum informaticarum or Doctor rerum naturalium) by Andrea Zinzani from Faenza (Italy) Thesis No:??? printing house or editor 2014 Accepted by the Faculty of Science of the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) upon the recommendation of Prof. Christine Bichsel and Prof. Silvino Salgaro Fribourg, ……………………….. (date of the oral examination) Thesis supervisor(s) Dean ……………………………… …………………………………………… CONTENTS GLOSSARY .................................................................................................................... 7 ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................................... 9 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................ 10 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 12 1. Introducing water resources management issues ................................................................... 12 2. The rise of the IWRM framework ........................................................................................... 13 3. The debate on the IWRM framework and its implementation ............................................. 14 4. The IWRM in Central Asia. Which perspective on its implementation? ............................. 15 5. A comparative analysis: the methodological approach ......................................................... 16 6. The Thesis’ outline ..................................................................................................................... 17 1. THE QUESTION OF WATER MANAGEMENT: THE GLOBAL PARADIGMS FROM THE HYDRAULIC MISSION TO THE DEBATED IWRM FRAMEWORK ............................................................................................................ 19 1.1 THE HYDRAULIC MISSION AND THE CREATION OF THE HYDRAULIC TERRITORIES ......................................................................... 19 1.1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 19 1.1.2 The hydraulic societies .......................................................................................................... 20 1.1.3 Allan’s classification of the water paradigms: the Pre-modern communities ................. 21 1.1.4 The hydraulic mission .......................................................................................................... 22 1.1.5 The different interpretations and trajectories of the hydraulic mission .......................... 24 1.2 CHANGES IN WATER PARADIGMS: FROM THE HYDRAULIC MISSION TO THE REFLEXIVE MODERNITY ........................................... 26 1.2.1 The crisis of the hydraulic mission in the “North” ............................................................ 26 1.2.2 The environmental concerns and the rise of “reflexive modernity” ............................... 27 1 1.2.3 New perspectives on water: the “Economic sub-paradigm” ............................................ 29 1.2.4 The roll-back of the state and the rise of private actors .................................................... 30 1.2.5 The rise of international agencies in water reforms development ................................... 31 1.2.6 Water management as a multi-perspective issue ............................................................... 31 1.3 THE IWRM FRAMEWORK AND ITS MODELS ............................... 32 1.3.1 An integrated approach to globally address the water issues ........................................... 32 1.3.2 The Dublin principles and the rise of the IWRM framework .......................................... 33 1.3.3 How to put the IWRM into practice? The Global Water Partnership ............................ 35 1.3.4 Towards a strengthening of the IWRM and its implementation ...................................... 38 1.3.5 IWRM, as a new global water paradigm ............................................................................ 40 1.3.6 A political process ................................................................................................................. 41 1.3.7 The IWRM’ models: Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) and the experience of the Water Users Associations (WUAs) ............................................................................................... 42 1.3.8 The WUAs: a worldwide example of a water- users organization? ................................. 43 1.4 THE IWRM FRAMEWORK: A DEBATED CONCEPT ..................... 45 1.4.2 Integration: how and which aspects should be integrated? ............................................. 47 1.4.4 Managing water according to hydrographic units ............................................................ 48 1.4.5 Can the IWRM framework be implementable worldwide? ............................................. 49 1.4.6 Figuring out the logics of the IWRM ................................................................................. 53 2. COMPARATIVE METHODS IN WATER STUDIES: THE METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH ......................................................................... 55 2.1 COMPARATIVE METHODS IN SOCIAL AND WATER STUDIES 55 2.2 THE METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK: A COMPARATIVE APPROACH ........................................................................................................ 60 2.3 THE FIELD-RESEARCH STRUCTURE ................................................. 63 2 3. WATER ISSUES IN THE CENTRAL ASIAN REGION: FROM THE HYDRAULIC MISSION TO THE WIDESPREAD PROMOTION OF THE IWRM FRAMEWORK ............................................................................................... 71 3.1 THE GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT: A PATCHWORK OF HYDRAULIC TERRITORIES, STEPPES AND MOUNTAINS ............... 71 3.2 THE TERRITORIAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN RELATION WITH WATER MANAGEMENT ................................................................................ 73 3.3 THE SOVIET HYDRAULIC MISSION ................................................... 75 3.4 THE WATER LEGACY IN THE USSR .................................................. 78 3.5 POST INDEPENDENCE REGIONAL WATER CHALLENGES ........ 82 3.6 THE DONORS’ ROLE IN WATER REFORMS: THE PROMOTION OF THE IWRM ................................................................................................ 88 3.6.1 Has a national way to institutional reforms emerged? ...................................................... 88 3.6.2 Promoting the global water paradigm: the IWRM and IMT ........................................... 89 3.6.3 The widespread adoption of the WUAs: is it a performing model? ................................ 91 3.7 EVIDENCE OF THE INSTITUTIONAL WATER REFORMS IN THE CENTRAL ASIAN STATES .................................................................. 92 4. THE WATER REFORMS AT THE BASIN LEVEL: COMPARING THE MIDDLE ZERAVSHAN VALLEY (UZB) AND THE ARYS VALLEY (KAZ) ...... 97 4.1 THE UZBEK AND KAZAK WATER REFORMS TOWARDS THE IWRM: EVIDENCE FROM THE NATIONAL LEVEL .............................. 97 4.1.1 The water management structure in Uzbekistan ............................................................... 99 4.1.2 The de-collectivization of the Uzbek land and agriculture ............................................. 100 4.1.3 A controversial reform process of the national water sector .......................................... 103 4.1.4 The water management structure in Kazakhstan ........................................................... 104 4.1.5 The Kazakh land tenure reforms ...................................................................................... 106 4.1.6 A Kazakh water institutional reforms process oriented to the IWRM .......................... 106 4.2 WATER REFORMS AND RELATED ISSUES AT THE BASIN/LOCAL LEVEL: EVIDENCE FROM UZBEKISTAN ................. 110 3 4.2.1 Has a real shift to hydrographic-based water management at the basin level occurred or a re-centralization process emerged? ........................................................................................ 111 4.2.2 Reshaping the IWRM rationale; Are the Uzbek WUAs influenced by local logics? .... 117 4.2.3 The donors based IWRM-Fergana