Reducing Trans-Boundary Degradation of the Kura-Aras/Araks River Basin Project

UNDP-GEF

“Reducing Trans-boundary Degradation of the Kura-Aras/Araks River Basin ” Project

Project Development Phase

Value: $1.5 million

Duration: 18 months

Start date: April 2005

The Kura-Aras/Araks river system is the principal source of water for industry, agriculture, residential uses and energy in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as for sizeable populations in Iran. Integrated, inter-country efforts are urgently required to reverse the ongoing degradation of these river ecosystems. The river systems of the Caucasus flow within and between countries and the health of these rivers systems depends on human activities. The current challenges facing the Kura and Aras/Araks river system include political, social and economic barriers to collaborative transboundary cooperation among the people of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Iran.

A lack of coordinated management of these waters reduces the over all quality and quantity of this vital resource. Further, there are implications for exacerbated tensions in the region between countries if these issues are not addressed. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan regarding territorial claims creates an especially tenuous set of circumstances for collective water management, but also emphasizes the importance of addressing these issues through coordination with creativity on multiple levels.There is a need to increase the capacity for water management through wider public involvement, relying on multiple stakeholder inputs, enhanced NGO coordination and pilot projects that serve as key public educational components. The environmental resource management will be strengthened through multiple channels of input, rather than focusing solely on the government entities, and long term changes must occur at the grassroots level.

At this time, there are no legal agreements between these countries regarding the transboundary water management. At the national level the oversight of water management is highly fragmented between multiple ministries, including natural resource and ecology ministries, energy ministries, agricultural ministries and social welfare ministries. It is imperative that intersectoral and regional actions are taken to address the water management issues in this region through multiple channels and amongst multiple groups within the societies of these countries.

Reducing Trans-boundary Degradation of the Kura-Aras/Araks River Basin is an umbrella project of UNDP/GEF with Swedish co-funding.The overall objective is to improve collective management of the shared water resources in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Iran. The project was initiated in 2002 and seeks to address the water quantity and quality issues facing this region through collaborative efforts. This project is currently in the PDF-B stage of the development, and beginning the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis and Strategic Action Programme (TDA/SAP) component implementation.

The project aims to ensure that the water quality and quantity of the Kura-Aras river system is sustainably managed. The project will achieve its objectives by: fostering regional cooperation; increasing capacity to address water problems; demonstrating improvements; initiating policy and legal reforms; prioritizing investments and; developing sustainable management and financial arrangements.

The project objectives are intended to create a strong sense of country ownership of the solutions to the problems they face in a collaborative atmosphere that emphasizes interdependence and cooperation. By identifying actual, rather than perceived, problems the project will enable countries to target these in a collaborative fashion. This will be supported by demonstration pilot projects, and coordinated policy and legal reforms. In order to optimize funding, priority investments and financial arrangements will be emphasized so that the countries and international organizations can most effectively combine efforts to develop sustainable water management strategies. A strong public involvement component is also initiated in conjunction with this project. The public involvement component will: establish an NGO forum and support an inaugural meeting; support development of a public involvement plan, including pilot projects, for inclusion in the full GEF project and ensure public involvement in the design of the demonstration projects; and create and support a regional stakeholder group to provide input into the TDA-SAP process and, hopefully into the full scale project.

Through the TDA, an empirically based set of studies will enable countries to identify the most pressing challenges to sustainable water management with an emphasis on water quantity and quality. These studies will draw upon previously conducted research as well as fill gaps in data identified by the Technical Task Team which consists of international and national experts from all littoral countries. Additionally, a Root Cause/Causal Chain Analysis will be conducted to identify the most appropriate interventions. This is conducted in conjunction with a Stakeholder Analysis which identifies the array of groups impacting and impacted by the water quantity and quality pressures of the Kura and ArasRiver Basin, their interests, priorities and areas of potential or realized conflict between groups. The combination of these analyses, with input from a Regional Stakeholder Advisory Group and national Interministerial Committees will lead to the establishment of a set of Ecosystemic Quality Objectives (EcoQOs), to be agreed upon by the Countries and open to public input, through public involvement mechanisms.

The EcoQOs will serve as the foundation of the Strategic Action Programme. This SAP will be developed concurrently with National Action Plans (NAPs) that reflect the priorities and actions of the SAP so that these strategies become mutually reinforcing at the national and regional level. The SAP will contain costed regional priorities with timeframes and actions focused on concrete results, to be reflected in the NAPs. The SAP/NAP development will seek to coordinate projects and policies throughout the region, based on sound scientific evidence and appropriate remedial actions. It is intended that these actions and interventions of the SAP/NAPs will be implemented through a Full Scale Project. It is hoped that this will be funded in part through GEF, and supported by the international community, and national budgets, in a coordinated and collaborative fashion in order to maximize the efficient and effective use of funds to improve the conditions of the Kura-ArasRiver Basin.

The UNDP/GEF project will provide linkages between other related projects addressing the water management issues in the Caucasus while emphasizing country ownership of the process and the outcomes.