Friday, 9th May 2008
China is depriving Kazakhstan of water
Could an environmental disaster be looming?
Water is as valuable as oil, gas and other natural minerals. It is essential for agriculture, energy, industry and for our everyday domestic existence. For Kazakhstan, with its dry climate with low humidity and limited water resources, water provision is fast becoming one of its most significant problems. During the last few years, the volume of water supply has been diminishing because of its increased use by neighbouring countries. The level of water supply in Kazakhstan is currently amongst the lowest in Central Asia.
According to an evaluation by UN experts, this deficit is set to increase even further due to climate change, which will in turn affect the development of the entire Central-Asia region. Central Asia urgently needs the creation of a stable and sustainable regime governing water use, especially in the case of cross-border river systems. But the development of such a regime will undoubtedly encounter obstacles. Perhaps these obstacles may even be artificially constructed. This is certainly the state of affairs that currently exists between Kazakhstan and China.
The on-ground water resources of Kazakhstan constitute on average around 100.5 km3 per annum, half of which (44 km3) comes from the territory of Uzbekistan (14.6 km3), Kirgyzstan (3.0 km3) and Russia (7.5 km3). 23 trans-border rivers flow to Kazakhstan from China, carrying annually more than 21.0 km3 of water, constituting about 20% of the total on-ground water resources of Kazakhstan. In spite of this, China, who never signed the two key international agreements covering trans-border rivers – The Convention of rights for non-navigational use of international water streams (1997) and The Convention of protection and usage of trans-border water streams and international lakes (1992) - is spinning out the process of signing any future agreement with Kazakhstan about the joint use of such trans-border rivers.
What is their reason for such a destructive position?
At present, the Chinese government is completing a programme of socio-economic development in its western autonomous districts, which includes the widespread deployment of water resources affecting cross-border rivers like the Irtysh and the Illy, aimed at the development of irrigated land cultivation, stock-breeding, hydro-power, water provision to the oil industry and to supply the rapidly growing population of Xinjiang.
Enormous projects have been started on the building of canals, reservoirs, hydroelectric stations and other hydro power constructions on these river arteries. The central government in Beijing is spending over $243 million annually on their construction. Inevitably this has caused major problems with neighbouring countries in the region as, for example, the Irtysh river basin includes the territories of China, Kazakhstan and Russia.
Kazakhstan has come off worst in this scenario. The construction of reservoirs and drainage canals on tributaries of the Irtysh in China, will lead to a situation where the total water taken from the river will reach 3 billion cubic meters or 35-37% of the total annual flow of that river system every year, causing serious harm to flora and fauna and also leading to a change of climatic conditions not only in Kazakhstan and Russia but also in Xinjiang itself. Desertification could be a direct consequence of China’s actions.
Similar problems have arisen in connection with the Illy river and its tributaries, where again the Chinese government has commenced major construction work on around 90 different projects involving dams, hydro-power and irrigation canals. According to various expert surveys, if the long-term programme of developing water resources in the Illy basin and its tributaries is implemented in China, the flow of the river in Kazakhstan will decrease to 40% by the year 2050.
It has to be borne in mind that the Illy-Balkhash basin is one of the most unstable in Kazakhstan in terms of both its water supply and its ecology. The quality of water resources of the Illy basin is one of its most basic problems. There is heavy chemical pollution coming from China and also from run-off from neighbouring agricultural land. Recent research conducted in the Illy river in the Almaty region of Kazakhstan showed that there was a strong presence of heavy metals and oil products all coming from China. For example it was found that in fishing reservoirs fed by the Illy, copper was present at more than 35 times the permissible level, iron was 6.3 times over, manganese was 6 times over and nitrites were 14 times over. This pollution led directly to the deterioration of water in Lake Balkhash, the disturbance of the ecosystem of the Balkhash river and the gradual drying up of lakes and water-marsh areas in the Illy river delta. We are now witnessing an unfolding disaster similar to that which affected the Aral Sea causing massive desertification.
So, according to the evaluation of experts, the continued excessive use of the Irthysh river by China will lead to an ecological disaster in eastern and southern Kazakhstan. Lake Balkhash, situated at the end of the Illy river, already has an acute shortage of water. The long-term consequences of this continued over-utilisation of water resources by China will be climate change, damage to the fishing industry, reduction of the yield capacity of agricultural plants and the consequent degradation of pastures and an increased concentration of toxic substances in local water supplies rendering them useless for household use.
Reacting to this growing danger during the past few years, Kazakhstan has been pursuing diplomatic measures to solve the water dispute with China. A Kazakhstan-China commission has been set up, where joint working groups of experts meet regularly. These working groups have produced draft agreements on the exchange of hydrological and hydro-chemical data, for scientific research, quality control and the prevention of pollution in cross-border rivers. However, despite all the progress of the joint working groups, the Chinese authorities refuse to address the core question of the increasing level of water they are taking from the rivers Irtysh and Illy.
Specialists in Kazakhstan think that the solution to the problem of water sharing should be based, firstly, on the eco-system approach, where socio-economic needs are considered in terms of sustainable use, without causing damage to the environment. This is worthy of our support in the EU.
However, I believe that we should urge China to sign up to the Convention of rights for the use of non-navigating water flows (1997) and the Convention of protection and use of trans-border water flows and international lakes (1992). I also think the EU should consider organising a major Conference on the problems associated with trans-border rivers, perhaps focusing on the Irtysh and the Illy as an example of where things can go badly wrong.
Water is an increasingly scarce resource and one that must be used fairly and sustainably. Let us learn from the lessons of the Aral Sea and the appalling consequences of desertification that was caused there by the injudicious and unsustainable utilisation of water. Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
