Water resources issues among the Central Asia countries around the aral sea: conflicts and cooperation

Abstract

Around the Aral Sea in Central Asia, the process of social development, water supply and demand and environmental issues are most prominent, which have seriously hindered the economic development and social stability, or even seriously affect the relations among the Central Asian countries. To tackle these issues, the Central Asian countries have shown great concern and sincerity, desiring to cooperate to solve the common problems. They have signed a series of multilateral and bilateral cooperation agreements and, indeed, do the deed. Developed countries and international organizations have also intervened in many ways, with great assistance and active mediation, however, the Aral Sea crisis is still not fundamentally eased yet. In this paper, the situations of development and utilization of water resources around the Aral Sea and the conflict and cooperation about water resources among the Central Asian countries are described and analyzed in detail. Countermeasures for reasonable use of water resources to achieve integrated river basin management and to resolve the Aral Sea crisis are proposed.