Background

With dramatic economic development in Kazakhstan, and the other Central Asian states such as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are poised to grow significantly over the next few years. Yet, this potential is marred by severe environmental insecurities mainly caused by poor integrated management of the environment and resources.

The EU Water Initiative points out that the region has an extremely high level of water consumption and that this consumption is due to very inefficient agricultural irrigation practices. In addition, World Bank research indicates that about 79% of Central Asia’s irrigated water is lost.

Therefore, an immediate attention should be paid on improving its water management and domestic water specialists are desirable.