The prime aim of this report is to identify the environmental stress points in the Amu Darya basin which have, or may have, security repercussions for the states and population.The report then suggests solutions to the challenges identified during the assessment.

The assessment report is based on a process comprising missions and consultations with state authorities, representatives of the media and civil society in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in 2007-2010. The process included drafting national contributions on environment and security issues at country and local level, and regional meetings with the countries of the basin. 

The meeting in Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) in September 2007 focused mainly on issues related to the lower part of the basin. The meeting in Kabul (Afghanistan) in November 2007 discussed upperbasin issues and Afghanistan’s perspective. Field visits were made to the upper Amu Darya basin in Tajikistan and its regions adjacent to Afghanistan in spring 2008. Similar field missions to Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan covered the middle and lower parts of the Amu Darya River basin, river delta and the Aral Sea region. All in all, the field missions covered more than 3000 km. Participants included experts from the region and from international organizations (see Annex 1 for details). Almost 100 experts were directly involved or consulted during the process.

Tags: Central Asia agriculture biodiversity climate change ecosystem energy natural resources report rivers lakes and streams water Amu Darya Basin environment and security