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Irrigation Management Transfer and WUAs’ dynamics: evidence from the South-Kazakhstan Province

Environmental Earth Sciences volume 73, pages 765–777 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, in Kazakhstan, as in the other Central Asian republics, significant changes in both the water and agricultural sectors have emerged; water management shifted from a purely technical issue to a sociopolitical and economic one leading to several institutional and organizational changes. To address this transitional context and its issues, since the 1990s international donors have supported the establishment of Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) and the Water Users Associations (WUAs), both initiatives sponsored and related to the IWRM framework. This paper discusses these processes in the South-Kazakhstan Province, 10 years since the enactment of the law formalizing WUAs; three districts were selected for the analysis. The paper concludes that the IMT has been implemented in different and ambiguous methods and times, reflecting specific district dynamics and issues; furthermore, government support of IMT has decreased, leading to unexpected changes in its role in local water management and a reconsideration of the future scenario.

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Abbreviations

IMT:

Irrigation Management Transfer

WUA:

Water Users Association

IWRM:

Integrated Water Resources Management

O&M:

Operation and maintenance

ISF:

Irrigation service fee

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department TESIS, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Andrea Zinzani

  2. Department of Geosciences-Geography Unit, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Andrea Zinzani

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  1. Andrea Zinzani
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Correspondence to Andrea Zinzani.

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Zinzani, A. Irrigation Management Transfer and WUAs’ dynamics: evidence from the South-Kazakhstan Province. Environ Earth Sci 73, 765–777 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3209-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3209-6

Keywords

  • Water management
  • IMT
  • WUAs
  • Central Asia
  • Kazakhstan

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