In the context of ongoing reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, the international community is implementing numerous water-related projects, such as the building of dams and irrigation canals. These projects often lack a regional perspective, which means that the trans boundary impacts of development projects are overlooked. The EastWest Institute and the Irrigation and Water Engineering Group of Wageningen University started a process to raise awareness among Belgian and Dutch policymakers and practitioners about the need for cross-border cooperation on water management as a way of improving regional stability.
The transnational Amu Darya river is a main tributary of the Aral Sea Basin in Central Asia and crucial for local livelihoods. Millions of people depend on its water for agriculture and hydro-electricity in the downstream countries Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and the upstream countries Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
As part of ongoing reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts, international donors, including the Netherlands and Belgium, support rural development projects in Afghanistan. Many of these focus on water infrastructure such as dams and irrigation systems. Good examples are the numerous small-scale projects implemented by the Netherlands to dig and restore irrigation channels, construct new canals and water reservoirs and protect river banks. Belgium funds a series of multilateral projects primarily focusing on rural development, which incorporate numerous water projects.
However, these projects focusing on local or meso-level water infrastructure rehabilitation and development often lack a regional perspective, meaning that the trans boundary impacts of development projects are overlooked.
The EastWest Institute and the Irrigation and Water Engineering Group of Wageningen University initiated a process to promote information exchange between academia, private sector experts and Dutch and Belgian policymakers who work on Afghanistan and Central Asia, thereby building connections and raising awareness about the need to consider the trans-boundary impacts of development projects. For this purpose they established the Amu Darya Basin Network, which is an international network of policymakers and experts in the field of rural development and water management in Afghanistan and Central Asia.
The Amu Darya basin
(Click to enlarge)