Welcome to the website of the Amu Darya Basin Network
The EastWest Institute and the Irrigation and Water Engineering Group of the Wageningen University have jointly launched in 2010 a project entitled “Afghan-Central Asian water cooperation on management of the Amu Darya river: connecting experts and policy makers in the low lands.”
The Amu Darya’s relevance for sustainable development and regional security
The Amu Darya provides an exceptionally valuable case to explore potential for enhanced cross-border cooperation between Afghanistan and the downstream Central Asian States. The Amu Darya river is an essential tributary of the Aral Sea Basin and is crucial for the livelihoods of millions of people in the basin. Development of agriculture (in all riparian states) and hydro-electric power (in Tajikistan and Afghanistan particularly) depend heavily on the water resources of the Amu Darya. Hence, water strategies and projects (either irrigation or hydropower projects) in the upstream countries Afghanistan and Tajikistan are often contested by the downstream countries Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
