The delegation consists of representatives of National Water Resources Management Agencies of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Participants will get practical field exposure to river basin management and planning in Portugal and Spain. The focus will be on transboundary basins, looking at institutional mechanisms and tools used by management agencies and other relevant stakeholders in water and agricultural sectors.
The visit will concentrate on getting first-hand information from national water resources management agencies, water service utilities, farm enterprises and water users associations (WUAs) regarding establishment, functions, legal framework, management and challenges faced in transboundary water management context.
The programme includes meetings at Spanish Guadiana River and Portuguese Tagus River Basin District Administrations, Geo-Systems Research Centre of Technical University of Lisbon, field visits to irrigation systems, water supply and management facilities, etc.
With regards to regional water management, the following will be discussed: the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive, related harmonisation of the national legal framework and river basin management approach.
Special focus will be given to transboundary water regulations between Portugal and Spain, inter-state water sharing agreements, as well as river basin management plans and the National Water Plan.
The European experience in coping with extreme events such as droughts and floods could be a useful contribution to improved water management in Central Asia as it is a region with many transboundary rivers and complicated natural conditions.
"Water Management and Basin Organizations in Central Asia (WMBOCA)" project aims at supporting water management and strengthening transboundary river basin administrations in Central Asia and capacity building on the river basin planning for water management organisations and joint river basin structures.
This project is funded by the European Union and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH acting in partnership with the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC).
Source: GIZ. Photo is only illustrative.