Lessons on cooperation building to manage water conflicts in the Aral Sea Basin; Technical documents in hydrology: pc-cp series; Vol.: 11; 2003

3.2. Lessons Learnt 
Taking into account our definition of conflict as representing an extraordinary 
destruction of proper systems for sustainable water use and water protection, the 
most important lessons could be learned on the basis of analysis that would predict 
the likelihood of such conflict situations. The conflicting issues in the integrated water 
resources management process could be listed in terms of social, economic, legal, and 
prospective variables as discussed below. 
3.2.1. Socio-ecological Conflicts over Water Use 
Water has been perceived primarily in the context of social and ecological values and 
interaction between human beings and nature. Unfortunately, in the region until now, 
priority has been given to the basic needs of human beings for water and satisfaction 
of economic needs. As a result we can see the disaster of the Aral Sea and its coast: 
the lake has lost about 70 percent of its volume and 60 percent of its surface area, 
while water salinity has risen from 8 percent to 60 percent since 1960. There has 
been massive desertification (over an area of 1.6 million hectares). There have been 
heavy losses of biodiversity: more than eighty common species have disappeared 
from the water fauna and flora. 
The second problem is salinization and waterlogging on the irrigated area 
(approximately 5 million hectares require artificial drainage). Irrigation creates a 
return flow, which is a source of environment threats. This polluted water constitutes 
more then 30 percent of total available water resources in the region. As a result 
there is growth of river water salinization, sometimes up to 1.5–2.5 g/L. A worsening 
of groundwater quality, especially through the actions of the chemical industry, has 
also occurred in the region. All these factors have resulted in the proliferation of 
various diseases and an increased mortality rate in downstream reaches of the Syr-
Darya and Amu-Darya rivers, along with losses of natural productivity. 
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