Water Unites

Whose rights and which principle have priority? And what exactly is an equitable share?
Where is the borderline between a harm that has to be accepted and a significant harm?
These questions are not answered in detail by the conventions, which only provide for the
general principles and criteria. And this is very wise, because many of these questions can
only be answered specifically for each basin, rather than applying to all. In this respect, the
conventions provide a framework of joint principles on which regional agreements can be
negotiated, not a blueprint for all river basins.
But there is a binding regional convention for the European and Central Asian region
that made these two principles obligatory for its parties and provided a framework and
guidelines for their application in specific river basins: the UNECE 1992 Convention on the
Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (the so-called
Helsinki Convention). The Convention obliges parties to prevent, control and reduce transboundary
impact, use transboundary waters in a reasonable and equitable way and ensure
their sustainable management. Parties bordering the same transboundary waters shall
cooperate by entering into specific agreements and establishing joint bodies. The Convention
includes provisions on monitoring, research and development, consultations, warning
and alarm systems, mutual assistance and exchange of information, as well as public access
to information.
In Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have signed it and the other states,
though not formal members, are participating in some of its activities. Though the convention
is now only applicable to countries of the UNECE region, thus not Afghanistan, Iran or
China, an amendment intends to open it to others. As soon as this amendment is in force,
the Helsinki Convention could also be a basis for water cooperation between Central Asia
and its neighbouring states.
IFAS: organizational structure
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the five newly independent Central Asian states
saw the need to cooperate on their shared water resources. In September 1991, their ministers
of water resources issued a statement in which they declared that joint management
of water was necessary to solve the region’s water problems and should be carried
out based on the principles of equality and mutual benefit.
On 18 February 1992, the five ministers signed the «Agreement on cooperation in
joint management, use and protection of interstate sources of water resources». It declared
that the quota system established by the Soviet Union (see page 22) should remain in
place until a new strategy was developed, and it founded a joint body, the Interstate Commission
for Water Coordination (ICWC). This agreement was followed by numerous
other ones, such as the 1993 presidential «Agreement on joint actions on resolving the
problems related to the Aral Sea and its coastal zone on environmental sanitation and
socioeconomic development in the Aral Sea region», the Nukus Declaration of 1995, the
1999 agreement «On the status of IFAS and its organizations», and others.
46 IFAS: organizational structure