The international conference “Water Unites – Strengthening Regional Cooperation on Water Management in Central Asia” took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan, from 17-18 November 2008, and was organized by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the Government of Germany, the Executive Committee for the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea and the UN Development Programme.

Topics addressed included: the shrinking of the Aral Sea; lack of agreement between upstream and downstream countries on water release regimes and water distribution; competition between energy and irrigation sectors; deterioration of water ecosystems; and impacts of climate change on water availability.
The conference is a follow-up to the first “Water Unites” conference (Berlin, 1 April 2008), during which the “Berlin Water Process” was launched by the German Federal Foreign Minister. The Almaty conference aimed to assess the short- and long-term challenges in cooperative water management in Central Asia and to generate more coherent, efficient and better targeted actions to meet these challenges.
Link to further information
UNECE Press Release, 14 November 2008