The Politics of Water in Central Asia

central asia water
Panos

Abundance
Central Asia is rich in water, but 90% of it is concentrated in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, above. In Soviet times, the water was controlled by a central government, so that the lakes and rivers of the two upstream nations serviced the fields and electric needs of the downstream nations, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, these controls have broken down and national self-interests have taken hold.

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