Comments on: Water Management in Central Asia

By: sufi

sufi — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:58:12 +0000

check the DAWN article on the Siachen Talks between Pakistan and India:

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/sci-tech/12-track-ii+forum+floats+idea+of+siachen+peace+park–bi-04

Especially: ” …Indian suggestion to demilitarise the region was ‘an indirect admission that the melting of glaciers was because of its military presence’.” How exactly does that happen?

On the other side Pervez Ashraf (then Pak Energy Minister) claimed in May 2008 that the increased loadshedding in the country was because of a serious lack of electricity “because of less water in rivers and slower melting of snow”. (http://www.dawn.com/2008/05/15/top1.htm)

By: Misha

Misha — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:47:45 +0000

Thanks for the links. It’s true that when it comes to climate science and global warming, the science is often distilled for the public and the media–the danger in this is the possibility of exaggeration and sensationalizing. Unfortunately, this leads to a lot of stagnation on the policy side of things, as we’ve seen in the debate surrounding global warming over the past few years.

By: Fabius Maximus

Fabius Maximus — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:39:19 +0000

While many of these reports of glacial retreat are correct (after all, the Little Ice Age ended 2 centuries ago), they are often exaggerated. Such as your reference to the Himalayan glaciers. See this new report from the Government of India: "Himalayan Glaciers: A State-of-Art Review of Glacial Studies, Glacial Retreat and Climate Change", Vijay Kumar Raina, Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests, 12 November 2009. For a brief review of the report see "No Sign Yet of Himalayan Meltdown, Indian Report Finds", Pallava Bagla, Science, 13 November 2009 (subscription only; pirate copy here).

By: Misha

Misha — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:29:46 +0000

looks like this might be happening sooner than i thought!

http://eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav113009.shtml

energy crisis, ho!

By: Ahad_Abdurahmon

Ahad_Abdurahmon — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:14:59 +0000

all kyrgyz and tajik want is some gas and electricity, give them that freaking gas and electricity, be real good friends with them, integrate with their economy, cooperate in security and foreign policy, have some freaking respect to each other!!!

By: Ahad_Abdurahmon

Ahad_Abdurahmon — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:11:41 +0000

I don’t understand one thing, countries like EU, Japan, etc spend millions of dollars in foreign aid in CA to create a benign image of themselves. Uzbekistan is at the heart of it and what is wrong with just sharing its resources with less fortunate neighbors just for the sake carrying Turkistan’s burden?
It is myopic to enter into competition and tit for tat style relations with its fellow Turkistanians!

By: Dafydd

Dafydd — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:15:28 +0000

It is extremely difficult to see how Cantral Asians will manage their water supply without some level of conflict.

So far as I am aware Uzbekistan is really short of water, and cotton as a cash crop does not help.

By: Central Asia Travel

Central Asia Travel — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:24:57 +0000

Yeah with water we have a big problem in Central Asia in future ((

By: Misha

Misha — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:40:22 +0000

This is true. The issue with the glacial retreat is, if the glaciers melt too early, and take longer to re-freeze because summers are longer, those downstream reservoirs are filled with water that will evaporate before being used.

By: Toaf

Toaf — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:36:31 +0000

I believe that there have been some disputes in the past concerning water management in the region. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are able to control water flow to downstream nations, impacting hydro power generation and agriculture.