Rethinking SyrDarya basin and Zeravshan sub-basin river management in Central Asia
On September 16-24, the National Water Resources Management (NWRM) Project has organized a study tour to Switzerland and Spain - the two countries that have a successful history of the Basin Management and Integrated Water Resources Management application into the practice.
The list of participants included representatives of the NWRM Project and Zeravshan Project teams, water specialists from the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, academia and Agency for Land Reclamation and Irrigation.
The overall objective of the visit was to build the common understanding of the future Syrdarya basin and Zeravshan sub-basin Water Reform in Tajikistan, which is being implemented with the cooperation between the SDC funded NWRM Project and the EU funded Zeravshan Project.
The specific objectives included identification of the: (1) river basin management and its institutions and (2) main principles of the basin management and Integrated Water Recources Management (IWRM).
During the visit to Switzerland, the participants were invited to the Geneva Water Hub, where they attended the market presentation of the mobile application for water flow measuring. The discussion topics revolved around water governance, water management, transboundary cooperation, water and peace.
As an outcome, the participants gained knowledge on the basic theory of the river basin and transboundary river management and collected insights from the best international practices.The participants learned how to apply river basin management principles and had the chance to see their implementation both in Switzerland and in Spain.