From June 19 – 30, FutureWater visited the IWMI Regional Representative Office for Central Asia in Tashkent as part of the Water Allocation Modelling within the WEACT project. The objective of this research visit was to gain insights into the water-related challenges under climate change and identify potential approaches to address these issues as well as understand national and regional data platforms relevant within the scope of the WE-ACT project.

During this visit, FutureWater engaged with team members from IWMI Central Asia. Together, they shared insights and exchanged ideas on how they can work together to achieve the goals of the WE-ACT project. In addition to collaborating, FutureWater and IWMI gathered with key stakeholders and institutes to improve their understanding on the region, to detail the user-mapping, and to discuss the water allocation knowledge gaps within the Syr Darya basin.

We were kindly hosted by the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination of Central Asia (ICWC), Basin Water Organization Syr Darya and their provincial branch office in Andijan, Uzbekistan Hydromet, and we had the pleasure of establishing a great working relationship with the Basin Irrigation System Authority for Andijan Region (BISA) who are responsible for water allocation within Fergana Valley, the main aquicultural region in the study area of WE-ACT. The stakeholders consulted during the research visits were incredibly engaged, ambitious, and ready to provide feedback during the discussions on water allocation challenges. We can’t wait to see the impact of our collaboration and the benefits it will bring to the region.

Big thank you to the staff of the IWMI Regional Office for Central Asia, specifically Oyture Anarbekov, Zafar Gafurov, and Sherzod Zaitov, for hosting us in their Tashkent. Together, we fostered our understanding of the region in terms of water allocation and identified main research opportunities for the Decision Support System.