Hydrostrategy, Hydropolitics, and Security in the Kura‐Araks Basin of the South Caucasus

Abstract

Abstract:After the Soviet Union's dissolution, the Kura‐Araks Basin became an international river basin with respect to the South Caucasus states of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Despite differences among these countries, they depend greatly on the Kura‐Araks Basin. They proposed to jointly monitor Kura‐Araks Basin surface water quality and obtained funding to do so from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Science for Peace Programme. Thus, the South Caucasus River Monitoring Project was born in late 2002. The South Caucasus River Monitoring Project formally ended in December 2009, and was a model of collaboration and cooperation in a region where such traits have at times been in short supply. Not only were valuable data collected, but collegial professional relationships also were forged among the participants. In the long run, this latter aspect will likely prove to be the most important product, not just for the South Caucasus, but for others as well.