During the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit that took place in Bishkek on August 15-16, 2007, the leaders of the five member states discussed issues of energy, security and cooperation. The speech of Uzbekistan’s President emphasized the importance of regional security in light of the situation in Afghanistan and environmental issues with stress on the water resources.

Many issues of regional and organizational concern were raised at the summit. Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov chose to speak about the ecological problems of the world, and of Central Asia in particular. He began with talking about the growing importance and authority of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, further increase and deepening of economic cooperation based on the realization of large interstate projects in the sphere of communication, fuel-energy, and effective rational use of water and mineral resources. Also he noted that construction of modern plants on the basis of joint investment projects in the sphere of technology could serve as a primary factor in the solution of the acute problems of employment, stable economic development and finally social-economic security and stability of the region.

President Karimov specifically noted that the water management crisis could contrive ecological problems in the downstream areas of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Rivers, hasten the dry-out of the Aral Sea, and thus worsen living conditions for millions in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Outlining possible ecological catastrophes in Central Asia, Karimov referred to the UN Conventions on protection and use of transboundary water currents, calling for the provision of independent expertise of construction projects  by neutral international audit organizations.

Evidently Uzbekistan (as other downstream Central Asian states) is concerned about the ongoing project of building the Rogun Dam on the Vaksh River in Tajikistan. Its construction started in 1976,but the government of Tajikistan still struggles to finish the project. In 2004, the Russian company RusAl concluded a partnership with Tajikistan to complete construction of the dam. However, on August 29, 2007 the agreement was nullified, when the Tajik government and RusAl failed to reach agreement on the height and size of the hydroelectric station. The Tajik government decided to complete the construction of the station on its own, putting out an international tender. If finished, the Rogun hydroelectric station would be the biggest water energy producing station in Central Asia, taking one of the leading energy-providing positions in the region.

By the end of the SCO summit, leaders of the member-states agreed to create a “unified energy market” that would bring energy resources from member countries rich in oil and natural gas to those that need such resources to promote their development.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had lobbied for such an agreement ahead of the summit, saying that greater energy cooperation would be “a powerful impetus to regional projects in the interest of all SCO member states.” Before the start of the summit, President Putin said his country would invest $2 billion in Kyrgyzstan, adding that Russia will fund “only good projects.”

Earlier this year, on April 6, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a report on the environmental situation in Central Asia. It described major environmental problems in the region, identifying water supply as a significant problem.  To avoid economic and political disasters, experts said, immediate reforms in the water and agricultural sectors are needed. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, hundreds of inter-governmental documents have been signed on water policy. Yet none of them are legally binding. Thus, tension over water resources – pitting upstream (Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) against downstream nations (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan) – continues to plague regional relations. Peter Bloch, an agrarian reform expert who has worked on a variety of donor-funded programs in Uzbekistan thinks “in Uzbekistan there is a huge potential for water savings with relatively minor investments in equipment.”  The report concludes that environmental degradation and water scarcity have the potential to propel Central Asia into a downward spiral of conflict.

Meanwhile, on August 22, the deputy permanent representative of the UN Development Program in Uzbekistan, Ms. Kioko Postil released a new publication on “Perspectives for the Development in Renewable Energy in Uzbekistan” compiled together with the Ministry of Economics of Uzbekistan. It is about using sun and wind energy, natural water currents and biogas. The publication aims to raise awareness among the local community, as well as academic and scientific circles, about the potential of renewable energy resources in Uzbekistan. There are already several projects operating in Uzbekistan in the sphere of renewable energy: the research and practice center “Energiya”, and a data bank on renewable energy sources; “Foton” ltd. started producing solar water-heating panels.

After the expressed concern of the Uzbek President, Tajikistan’s President Imomali Rahmon assured that he “will never and under no circumstances embark upon hydro-energy projects that could possibly harm neighbors”. Although potential consequences of the project were presented as the main concern of the Uzbek side, there is certainly political interest involved. Islam Karimov is worried that a very high dam (it is planned to be 335 meters high) will allow Tajikistan to regulate the water drainages that irrigate Uzbek valleys, and Tajikistan may gain a political instrument of pressure on Uzbekistan. Calling for international audits and thus the attention of the international community constituted an attempt to lower the growing tensions. The only question is how much help the international community could provide in states that regularly evade international legal rules when their own interests are at stake.