IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE

Irrig. and Drain. 60: 703 (2011)

BOOK REVIEW

WATER IN CENTRAL ASIA: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE, VICTOR A. DUKHOVNYAND JOOP L.G. DE SCHUTTER. CRC PRESS/BALKEMA, TAYLOR & FRANCIS GROUP,

LONDON, UK, 2011. ISBN 978-0-415-45962-4 (HARDBACK), 410 PP.

Water is essential for all life forms. The world’s freshwaterresources make up only 2.5% of the total available water resourcesand they are steadily reducing. If one takes into account thatbetween 9.07 and 10.7 billion people will be living on Earth by2050, according to various forecasts, the need for a careful andresponsible attitude to water becomes obvious. Water problemsnot only stem from the rise of population growth but also fromincreasing agricultural and industrial water consumption.

Moreover, many reservoirs and other sources of potable waterare subject to rapidly increasing pollution from all sorts of waste,and intense drought events, resulting from climate change, areexpected to lead to a drop in agricultural production. A key elementin coping with these threats is improved water governance at alllevels (local, national and international).

With reference to these issues, this book focuses on problemsrelated to water use in Central Asia. This region, within the ongoingprocess of globalization of the world economy, represents thecrossroads and main link between Europe and Asia. This part of theworld is not only extremely rich in natural energy resources (oil,gas, hydropower), but it also has a unique place in history.Throughout the centuries Central Asia has made a considerablecontribution to world civilization. After the collapse of the SovietUnion the countries in Central Asia have been in transition. Theirmain requirements are to modernize their social and political lifeand to introduce state-of-the-art technologies and new socio-economic trends capable of speeding up progress of the transitionand to achieve food security under conditions of meeting ecologicalrequirements and ensuring water security.

Comparing past and present use of water resources in CentralAsia, the book describes the legal, institutional, hydrological andhydropower aspects and policies that allowed floods and droughtsto be overcome without conflict, although this was achieved, insome situations, at the expense of the environment, defined as the‘victim’.

To reach these broad objectives, the book describes the results ofintegrated models for socio-economic development and waterresources management on the basis of data developed in recentdecades. These models feature three base scenarios which are:business as usual (present-day situation), national (assuming thatcountries take national priorities as a guideline for their policies)

Copyright # 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

and regional (considering that countries choose regional, trans-boundary priorities as a template for their policies).

The last chapters describe the outcomes of these scenarios for anumber of key parameters, including irrigation area development,water productivity and labour opportunities. In this context, specialattention is given to external scenario drivers that may impact thewater and environment sector, such as climate change, globalfinance, markets and the development of regional energy policies.The main elements necessary for achieving an optimal sharing ofwater resources among different users (hydropower, irrigation,drinking water supply) are the following:

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ntegrated water resources management:

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ooperation in transboundary river basins;

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mproving irrigated farming practices;

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oordination, partnerships and empowerment of national

and regional stakeholders;

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ater governance, legislation and policy.

All these elements will improve water governance in CentralAsia, which should be based on integrated water resourcemanagement (IWRM) policies and projects. On the whole, thissystem should be oriented towards raising the potential productivityof water and land, through the joint efforts of water users and thegovernment.

The authors dedicated this book to the indefatigable workers,patient irrigators and modest farmers of Central Asia with the hopeof helping Western readers understand their actual problems andtheir contribution to the development of the world’s civilization.

PROF. DANIELE DE WRACHIENEurAgEng Past President

Associate Editor of Irrigation and Drainage

Published online 15 September 2011 in Wiley Online Library(wileyonlinelibrary.com)

DOI: 10.1002/ird.656