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Center for Natural Resources and Sustainability DKU

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  • Collins Neil

    Changing with the weather: Afghan farmers adapt to drought

    Year: 2022

    Collections: Scientific Publications

    Topics: Climate

    Authors: Aliyar Qurban, Collins Neil

    Countries: Afghanistan

    Source:



  • Conrad Christopher

    The scientific online tool “Water Use Efficiency Monitor for Central Asia - WUEMoCA” for monitoring and optimizing national water use efficiency measures

    Year: 2022

    Collections: Scientific Publications

    Topics: Water, Irrigation, IWRM

    Authors: Conrad Christopher, Usman Muhammad, Kenjabaev Shavkat, Ziganshina Dinara, Kussainova Maira, Nikolayenko Alexandr

    Countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan

    Source:

    Management interventions to increase water use efficiency in the irrigation sector of Central Asia were introduced but a scientific control instrument is still missing - The online tool WUEMoCA provides relevant irrigation performance indicators in the Aral Sea Basin from satellite data in combination with additional sources - WUEMoCA-based analysis of water security and water use efficiency showed: o 11 out of 33 provinces in the Aral Sea Basin were below the critical level to supply crop water demands for more than 5 years in 2000-2018. o Irrigation water use efficiency is very low in general (55%-60%) and scientific data hints at missing or failing water management interventions in the Amu Darya and Zarafshan basins. - WUEMoCA can strategically supplement the ongoing digitization efforts of the countries in the water sector. - By utilizing WUEMoCA-like tools, Central Asian governments and water management bodies will have new platforms for steering and assessing current and future strategic interventions in regional water management.


    Current and potential conflicts for ecosystem services caused by agricultural land use in Central Asia, and essential implications for research on sustainable land management in the region

    Year: 2023

    Collections: Scientific Publications

    Topics: Agriculture, Sustainable Development, Management

    Authors: Conrad Christopher, Kussainova Maira, Schmidt G.

    Countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan

    Source: Central Asian Journal of Sustainability and Climate Research

    The increasing demand for food, bioenergy and other agricultural products, as well as the intensification of climate change, pose special challenges for Central Asia’s agricultural sector in terms of implementing sustainable land management. Central Asia is a climate change hot spot. Adaptation measures of agricultural land use to climate change imply new trade-offs in terms of quality and provision of ecosystem services. Based on literature studies, this paper identifies examples of such trade-offs and presents possible solutions. The ecoregions of Central Asia show strong interdependencies. Therefore, a special focus has to be put on the transregional effects of the use of ecosystem services. Against the background of different concepts of sustainable development (ESS, SDG, Global Environmental Syndromes) integrative approaches for sustainable use and design of landscapes are necessary.



  • Daniyar Turgunov

    Sustainable Transboundary Water Governance in Central Asia: Challenges, Conflicts, and Regional Cooperation

    Year: 2025

    Collections: Research Paper

    Topics: Climate, Water governance, Transboundary Water Resources, Transboundary cooperation, Hydropolitics

    Authors: Albina Prniyazova, Suriya Turaeva, Daniyar Turgunov, Ben Jarihani

    Countries:

    Source: Sustainability

    Sustainable transboundary water governance in Central Asia faces significant challenges, including political tensions, ecological issues, such as the drying Aral Sea, and seasonal hydropower disruptions impacting downstream countries. This study aims to address these problems by examining the complexities of water resource governance in the region, emphasizing the interplay between national interests and regional cooperation.



  • Daria Boklan

    Legal challenges to the management of transboundary watercourses in Central Asia under the conditions of Eurasian Economic Integration

    Year: 2017

    Collections: Research Paper

    Topics: IWRM, Water law, Water diplomacy, Transboundary Water Resources, Hydropolitics

    Authors: Daria Boklan, Barbara Janusz-Pawletta

    Countries:

    Source: Environmental Earth Sciences

    This article explores the legal challenges of managing transboundary watercourses in Central Asia in the context of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). The authors analyze whether existing international, regional, and bilateral legal mechanisms are sufficient for regulating shared rivers such as the Syr Darya, Chu, Talas, Irtysh, Ural, and others.



  • David Michel

    Water Diplomacy: The Intersect of Science, Policy and Practice

    Year: 2019

    Collections:

    Topics: Water diplomacy, Transboundary Water Resources, Water Security, Transboundary cooperation

    Authors: Martina Klimes, David Michel, Elizabeth Yaari, Phillia Restiani

    Countries:

    Source: Journal of Hydrology

    Why water diplomacy? What does diplomacy have to do with water? Is cooperation over transboundary surface and ground waters the exclusive domain of diplomats and foreign policy experts? Or mainly the purview of water professionals negotiating agreements on shared water resources? Why should non-governmental stakeholders be involved in transboundary water dialogues? These questions lie at the heart of debates and dialogues around the theory and practice of water diplomacy.



  • Denise Michèle Staubli

    Water diplomacy and conflict management in the Mekong: from rivalries to cooperation

    Year: 2018

    Collections: Research Paper

    Topics: Water governance, Water diplomacy, Hydropower

    Authors: Denise Michèle Staubli Anoulak Kittikhoun,

    Countries:

    Source: Journal of Hydrology

    The Mekong region, home to one of the world’s great rivers – the Mekong – is also one of the world’s most geostrategic regions, featuring seemingly conflicting interests among regional states including Viet Nam, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia and world powers such as China and the United States of America.

    For nearly a century, some of the riparian states have developed parts of the basin in their territories – to great benefits and harm – and recently the remaining late developing countries are catching up with water and related resources development plans to dam, withdraw and use the mighty Mekong to fund national progress and alleviate poverty.

    World leaders, academics, NGOs, media and even some government officials have warned that the current rush to development is not only bringing a sure death to a great previously untamed river, potentially displacing millions of people, and threatening livelihoods, but would also usher in an era of aggravated tensions and possibly even conflict. The Mekong River Commission (MRC), tasked to manage the river for the sake of the environment and the people, is failing its mission with work that has been ineffective, uninfluential and wasted, critics say.



  • Dienel Hans-Liudger

    Sustainable mobility and logistics for Central Asia. Research perspectives for a climate center

    Year: 2022

    Collections: Scientific Publications

    Topics: Sustainable Development

    Authors: Idrissov Marat, Yerzakovich Yelena, Dienel Hans-Liudger, Assmann Tom

    Countries: Kazakhstan

    Source:



  • Dimeyeva L. A.

    State of Saxaul Plantations in the Kazakhstan’s Part of the Aral Sea Area

    Year: 2021

    Collections: Scientific Publications

    Topics: Agriculture

    Authors: Salmukhanbetova Zh.K., Imanalinova A. A., Dimeyeva L. A., Zverev N.E.

    Countries: Kazakhstan

    Source: Central Asian Journal of Water Research



  • Dinara Ziganshina

    International law and water diplomacy

    Year: 2025

    Collections: Research Paper

    Topics: Water diplomacy, Transboundary Water Resources, Transboundary cooperation

    Authors: Dinara Ziganshina

    Countries:

    Source: Routledge Handbook of Water Diplomacy

    This chapter explores the symbiotic relationship between international law and water diplomacy, emphasizing their role in promoting peace and security in the governance of shared water resources. The author examines the key legal principles that underpin interstate cooperation, including the principles of equitable and reasonable utilization and the obligation not to cause significant harm.



  • Dipankar Aich

    Multi-track water diplomacy: current and potential future cooperation over the Brahmaputra River Basin

    Year: 2018

    Collections: Scientific Publications, Review article

    Topics: Water, Water diplomacy

    Authors: Yumiko Yasuda, Douglas Hill, Dipankar Aich, Patrick Huntjens, Ashok Swain

    Countries:

    Source: Water International

    This article analyzes key factors affecting transboundary water cooperation in the Brahmaputra River basin at multiple scales. The analysis of multi-track diplomacy reaffirms the potential of actor-inclusive approaches, arguing for a need to go beyond purely focusing on formal legal norms and consider the possibilities of cultural norms of informal processes of cooperation. Various ‘windows of opportunity’ exist in the current phase of the Brahmaputra basin’s development, leading to exploration of a Zone of Possible Effective Cooperation, arising from the effort to scale up multi-track initiatives as well as broader geo-politicaleconomic changes happening across and beyond the basin.



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