Capacity building for cooperation on dam safety in Central Asia

In Central Asia, concern over the safety of more than 100 large dams and other water control facilities, located mostly on transboundary rivers, has grown significantly in recent years. Ageing dams and their inadequate maintenance, coupled with population growth in flood plains downstream from the dams, have resulted in increased risks to life, human health, property and the environment. Failure of a dam could have disastrous consequences in downstream regions and countries.

Effective national regulatory frameworks for dam safety and subregional collaboration on dam safety are therefore critical for Central Asia. This was also highlighted in the UNECE-UNESCAP report "Strengthening cooperation for rational and efficient use of water and energy resources in Central Asia". Dam safety is one of the main directions in the 2008-2009 Work Programme of the UN Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA).

Central Asian countries, with the exception of Uzbekistan, presently lack adequate institutional and legal frameworks for dam safety. There are also no established procedures for notification of co-basin countries in case of accidents or emergency situations with dams. The UNECE project therefore aims to

	To prompt the countries concerned to set up or revise national dam safety regulatory frameworks in order to achieve their harmonization, and
	To promote subregional cooperation for information exchange and notification in case of accidents or emergency situations with dams.

The project is implemented by UNECE in collaboration with the Executive Committee of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea. For the full project outline, click here. The project is part of the Environment and Security Initiative (see www.envsec.org).

Central Asian Government agencies dealing with the safety of dams and other large hydraulic structures as well as Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice will participate in the project. The Finnish Government is funding the project.

A first phase of the project took place in 2006 with two meetings held 10-11 April (meeting documentation) and 15-16 November (meeting documentation). Both meetings took place in Almaty with the participation of experts from all five Central Asian countries.

A second project phase started in the end of 2007 and will go on until 2010. The first regional meeting (see report Eng Rus) and the first national meeting (see report Eng Rus) of the second phase took place in Tashkent on 12-13 March 2008 and 14 March 2008 respectively.

Enquiries about the project “Dam safety in Central Asia: Capacity building for regional cooperation” (phase II: 2007- 2010)can be addressed to:
Mr. Bo Libert
Tel: +41 22 917 2396
Fax: +41 22 917 0107
E-mail: bo.libert@unece.org