Water security in Central Asia and Southern Caucasus

Abstract

The dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the emergence of new States in Central Asia and Southern Caucasus has created new political and security dynamics in these regions. The latter was affected by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the former is confronted by the threat of conflict over shared water resources. More than twenty years later, the protracted conflict in Southern Caucasus over Nagorno-Karabakh remains unresolved and overshadows water-related problems; despite this, the dispute over water is a very important factor in the conflict, and key to overcoming it. In Central Asia, although the threat of conflict over water resources did not materialize, the region remains under the spotlight of water-conflict literature. In the present paper, the complex nature of water security is reviewed through an in-depth analysis of security and development-related factors in their connection to water and vice versa, which leads to the conclusion that policy interventions should be based on a more holistic approach that includes a wider set of issues.