In the period from 04 to 08 November this year, the State Enterprise “TajikNIIGiM” conducted four one-day trainings on the topic “IWRM: theory, practice and perspectives in the river basins of Tajikistan” in the Khukumats of the Matcha, B. Gafurov, Kanibadam and Istaravshan cities in the Sughd region.
The purpose of the training was the formation, essence, significance and necessity of IWRM among stakeholders and water users in the basin as a basis for the development of the IWRM process in the river basins of the Republic of Tajikistan (on the example of the Syrdarya river basin), as well as improving knowledge of water sector specialists on IWRM to implementation the Program “Water Sector Reform for 2016-2025”.
This event was divided into four main sessions.
Theoretical part: In the first session, a theoretical part was carried out including basic terminology of IWRM, such as hydrological cycle, basin, water-parting, watershed, water balance, water distribution plan, etc., was considered in detail and discussed about Sustainable Development Goals, cross-border water cooperation and climate change and its consequences.
Global practice: In the second session of the training, the experience of international practice was considered, that is, examples were given of IWRM reform in individual countries, such as Europe, Asia, America, Australia,. It should be noted that on this topic of the second session, experts developed and presented their presentations on international IWRM practice and experience in different regions of the world.
Perspective of IWRM in Tajikistan: Having a theoretical basis and information on international practice, the third session was devoted to the introduction of IWRM in Tajikistan, where the history of IWRM was considered in Tajikistan, the Water Sector Reform Program for 2016-2025, legislative aspects of IWRM in Tajikistan, etc….
Group work: Based on the results of all sessions, work was carried out in groups, where the participants discussed the prospects for the IWRM reform in the Republic of Tajikistan on the example of the water resource zones of the Syrdarya river basin in their regions, where issues were critical and important for the success of this reform. Upon completion of the work in the groups, the groups presented their presentations in the plenary session, where the participants identified the most important water issues in their regions and ways to solve them.
Place, implementation period and participants of the training: This training was one-day training. The training was carried out at each water-parting of the Matcha-Syrdarya, Samgar-Syrdarya, Isfara and Istaravshan sub-basins in the period from November 04-08 this year. During the training, participants were selected to represent the zone in the basin dialogue, discussion and conduct this training. The training participants represented all stakeholders of the watershed and water users, analogically to the participants in the basin dialogue. In total an average of 40 participants per training. The total number of training participants was over 160 people.
It should be noted that the general idea of conducting trainings is that further reform of IWRM in Tajikistan requires a common understanding of what IWRM means in theory and what in practice. This will be the basis for water sector specialists to start talking about further implementation of IWRM in the river basins of the Republic of Tajikistan.
During these trainings, the most important water topics were considered in detail, such as:
- Familiarization of training participants with basic knowledge on water and the Sustainable Development Goals;
- Introductory familiarization of the participants with basic knowledge of the history, definition and principles of IWRM;
- Familiarization of the participants with the management of the water cycle, basin and watershed;
- Performance of training participants with trans-boundary water cooperation;
- Detailed familiarization of the participants on climate change and disaster risk reduction (DRR);
- Consideration of IWRM implementation in Europe (Water Framework Directive, experience of France, Spain, Portugal, etc.);
- Detailed familiarization of the participants with the application of IWRM in America;
- Consideration of implementation of IWRM principles in Central Asia;
- Familiarization of the training participants on the application of IWRM in Tajikistan;
- Introductory familiarization to the Water Sector Reform Program for the period 2016-2025;
- Consideration of legislative aspects for the development and implementation of basin plans in the Republic of Tajikistan;
- Detailed presentation of participants with Basin Institutions and management tools;
- Familiarization of the training participants and their relationship with IWRM: Gender and Science.