The Town of the XXI Century
Series of reports on ecological situation in Central Asia

ARAL SEA: TODAY, TOMORROW AND IN THE FUTURE:

THE ARAL CONVENTION IS NEEDED

The professor of the Moscow State Natural Development University (Russia) Mr. K Arent, entitled his article "The cost indicators of water supply in Aral Sea region".

"The fall of the Soviet Union transformed the Aral Sea problem into an international issue. The success of the Aral Sea region salvation program depends on how the Central Asian states will manage coordination of the policies and concentration of the resources; it will also depend on the level of assistance provided by the World Bank for the program.

The currently existing dispute between Turkey, Syria and Iraq regarding the exploitation of Evfrat river waters - the result of absence of trilateral international agreement regulating division of water supply of this river - and creation of trilateral technical committee in 1983 did not help to resolve the issue.

In Europe there is the Dunai convention signed by all states located in the river basin. It is necessary to sign a similar Aral Sea convention.

Optimists consider that this may serve as the start on the way to solving disputes, as the starting point for the multilateral economic cooperation in the region. For example, Turkey proposes a project of using a huge pipeline to supply waters of two Turkish rivers - Saihan and Djeyhan - into the Persian Gulf region suffering from the lack of fresh water.

The drying out Aral Sea and deserts expanding in the Aral Sea region represent a result of the incorrect placement of productive forces in the sea basin, extensive use of water and land resources, monocultural cotton and rice dominance, planning mistakes, construction and exploitation of irrigation systems. Actual water consumption has exceeded the planned levels of consumption, which, together with inadequate development of the collection and drainage network, has led to massive accumulation of salt in the soils of the region, extraction of the soils from agricultural turnover.

In the region people have almost lost control over the situation. The Aral Sea region has turned into the ecological disaster zone. Similar situation can be observed at Sivan lake and in Middle Eastern countries, where Jordan river, its branches and precipitation represent the only sources of water supply for Dead Sea. Consumption of Jordan waters for agricultural purposes leads to the annual half meter decrease in the level of Dead Sea.

Many countries are searching for and researching the ways, which will help to prevent the crisis. Currently there are more than 300 concepts aimed at salvation of Aral Sea.

The United Nations Ecological Program recommends first of all to improve the quality of health care services and the overall sanitary situation, which can be achieved by discontinuing the drainage of polluted waters into the rivers. The recommendations related to the actions, which must be taken within next 10 years also include reconstruction of irrigation and water supply systems, development of new agricultural technologies and transfer of the crop lands from mono cultures to the complex turnovers.

The problem of decreasing water losses due to evaporation is also among the burning issues. Exploitation of effective watering technologies such as "rain" and "drop" watering allows to reduce the amounts of water used for these purposes and the quantities lost because of evaporation. Strict implementation of the water conservation rules will allow to return more than 50 cubic kilometers of water back to the sea.

To fundamentally solve the water problems of the Aral Sea region it will probably be necessary to use water resources of other regions and move them into the Aral Sea region via an open inter-basin water transfer channel or with the help of a pipeline or using another method to achieve the same goal.

Considering the development of market relations it is possible to suggest that water is becoming a commodity traded both at the inter-republican and international markets. For example, large shipments of water are scheduled from Turkey into Persian Gulf countries, shipments of fresh water will be organized from Syberia into Central Asian states and Baikal waters will be transported into South East Asia.

In recent past the project of transportation of waters from Syberian rivers into Central Asian states was not implemented because of the insufficient study of its ecological and economic feasibility. Now it is possible to return to this topic.

In connection with that it can be interesting to review both legal and economic aspects of the similar international projects. The agreement signed by Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan states that only unification and joint coordination of actions will allow to develop favorable conditions for solution of social and ecological problems. Both parties recognize the earlier developed and adopted documents regulating interstate distribution of water resources of transborder bodies, including irrigation systems, channels and water supply systems; the parties also preserve the adopted principles and the structure of water division and clarify them, if necessary, upon mutual consent".

THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR REVITALIZATION

Let us use the example of Kyzyl-Orda region - the one that has suffered the most from the ecological catastrophe - to illustrate some of the cases of donor support provided by international organizations.

President Nazarbaev, central and regional government officials often appealed to donors requesting them to devote more attention to the problems of the Aral Sea region. Revitalization of the Aral Sea region is also extremely important because of the ecological catastrophe which has influenced the region: lower sea level has led to expansion of deserts and accumulation of salt on huge territories. People of the region are facing lots of problems, many of which are made worse or are related to the ecological situation. In addition to the destructive influence of the drying out sea and overall ecological instability, which affect the agriculture and fishing industry, the region suffers from general economic recession. Unemployment, poorly developed, but struggling private sector, stopped government enterprises, lack of fresh water, worsening health conditions caused by the high concentration of salt in the air and bad quality of food - these problems are not abstract, they lead to real human sufferings, deprive people of everyday choices, and destroy hopes for the future.

Currently donor support is provided by at least 9 donors from both sides: the United States, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Turkey, Israel, Japan, Italy and Kuwait, and also by 8 international agencies and financial organizations: the World Bank, UNDP, UNICEF, UNESCO, ILO, the UN Population agency, Islamic Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, by several public organizations, particularly by Soros Foundation, International Mercy Corps and some instate organizations, such as "Bobek". Currently the main donors finance implementation of seven large-scale projects and 50 sub-projects.

The World Bank - one of the main donors of humanitarian aid and water supply projects. In 1996 the World Bank provided 1,7 million dollars to finance the first priority problem.

UNICEF: the ASPERA project (3 million USD) provides assistance in the sphere of health care, sanitary measures, water supply, education and food supply.

The USA - USAID: 7 million USD, provided for the Kazakhstan component of the USAID Aral Sea program, which is concentrated in Kyzyl-Orda region and is aimed at improving wells, pipelines, purchase of laboratory equipment and spare parts and organization of seminars covering topics related to public health care and sanitary issues.

Great Britain: The British Embassy provided wheel chairs for disabled people living in Kazalinsk. The Know-How Fund provided 750 thousand USD to finance the Aral Sea project.

The Netherlands: the government of the Netherlands and the Netherlands Embassy actively carry out projects in Kyzyl-Orda region. Through the UNDP project "The Aral Coast reconstruction and potential capability building project" the Netherlands' foundation got the opportunity to support local small business development sub-projects, which are presented by local people and local public unions (35 thousand USD).

France: the salt extracting equipment (5 million francs) was provided by "Degramont" company to Kyzyl-Orda region.

Japan: JAICO (The coordinating external loans committee of the Japanese developing countries support program) implements "The watering and water consumption improvement project" (150 thousand USD).

Italy: Italian trust foundation provided the feasibility study for the Small Aral. Grant - 550 thousand USD.

Denmark: The Dutch fishing plant carried out the project "From Kottegat to Aral Sea". The total cost - 200 thousand USD. Local fishermen from Aral Sea studied in Denmark. The purpose of the training was to study the opportunities to grow flat fish in Aral Sea.

Islamic Development Bank: the funds were provided and the work is currently done to develop the feasibility study for the water supply system in Kyzyl-Orda (274 thousand USD).

This of course is not a complete list of donors. Many more donors are involved in implementation of various projects. They help not only Kyzyl-Orda region of Kazakhstan. For example, they provide significant support to Karakalpakistan, especially to the territories washed by Aral Sea. This provides some hope.

It is not possible to solve the Aral Sea problem within a short period of time. To solve the problem it is necessary to accumulate too much funds and to put too many hours of work. However, it is important to prevent the tragedy from becoming even worse. Solution of this problem currently attracts the efforts of the international community.