All three countries are located in the Kura-Aras river basin, so transboundary water management is an important issue in this sub-region. The waters of the Kura-Aras basin are a significant source for all the three countries, with Azerbaijan being dependent on the Kura river for more than 70% of its drinking water supply. Water quality, quantity and distribution of the Kura-Aras rivers thus are important issues for all the three countries.
Regional cooperation between the countries on the use of the transboundary waters and sound integrated water management of shared waters will not only prevent inefficient use and further stress on the water resources but will also prevent conflict and build confidence and bring stability in the region.
For information on water situation in individual countries, check the individual country pages: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia
This publication is the thorough analysis of the prospects of Private Sector Participation in the Water Supply Sector of three South Caucasian countries (Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia) with a a focus on Azerbaijan.See AlsoPublic-Private Partnerships in the Water Sector<Report>Private Sector Participation in Water Supply And Sanitation of the Secondary Towns of Azerbaijan</Report><Report>Policy Principles for Private Sector Participation in Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation Services</Report><Report>Implementation Guidelines for Private-Sector Participation in Sustainable Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Services</Report>
The project is designed to promote crossborder environmental projects in the southern Caucasus as well as encouraging cooperation between transnational environmental NGOs. In particular, it focuses on promoting environmental education, environmental legislation, water management and health, launching calls for tender for projects in various problem areas. Local NGOs can tender for these projects and implement them if their bid is succcessful. At local level, the project is supervised by the Regional Environmental Center for Caucasus (RECC) and the International Grants Committee (IGC).
The project goal is to increase the dialogue for sustainable water management between representatives in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan in the riparian states of the South Caucasus, and to encourage bilateral actions on the sustainable use of natural resources.
The general activities include support to the appropriate agencies in each country for:
* Monitoring, data exchange, and training in each country, * Integrated river basin planning in bilateral pilot areas, and * Institutional framework for addressing water policy issues in the region.
The project activities have been successful in increasing sustainable water management among the stakeholders in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia in:
* Monitoring and Data Exchange - provided practical demonstration projects that restarted the monitoring programs, and developed and implemented a common database for web-based data sharing in the region; * Training Programs - developed an extensive training program at the local and national levels for basic and advanced data management, geographic information systems, and web site development, including a basin model of the Debed River in Armenia; * Integrated River Basin Planning - increased understanding of effective water management in the Khrami-Debed River basin, and included the completion of seven (7) prefeasibility evaluation reports and 70 grants that increased the effective participation of stakeholders in river basin planning issues; * Institutional and Legal Framework - provided policy support for sustainable water management that addressed and prioritized water issues with the extensive collaboration of counterpart agencies, other donors, and project implementers in the region; * Basin Council Development - initiated stakeholder meetings in the river basins that included the preparation of registration documents and support for the establishment of basin councils that resulted in the formal registration of three new basin council organizations at the grass-roots level; and * Leveraging of Support - leveraged support from other contractors and donors to continue the public awareness in the basin areas, to conduct a study tour on basin management in the US, and to consider the funding of the prefeasibility evaluations in a phased program.
