A meeting was held in December 2011 to develop specific assignments for national experts from five countries. Integrated operational scenarios will be developed for existing and potential storage reservoirs in the Aral Sea basin's two main rivers. Allocation of water impacts five economic sectors (agriculture, energy, health, industry, and the environment). National experts will be responsible for contributing to the concept, and collecting, analysing and processing both hydrological and economic data. The project is also supported by the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) to guide future investment.
GWP CACENA was selected as coordinator because of its reputation and ability to bring together national experts from all five countries and to create outputs acceptable to all. Acceptance of the modelling results is the biggest concern of the client (IFAS) because of a recent loss of mutual confidence among the countries.