The impact of climate change has been recognized as a “threat multiplier” that interacts with and compounds existing risks and pressures in many regions around the globe. The LCB is not an exception in this regard. There are repeated concerns about its disappearance, while about 30–40 million local inhabitants depend on the lake’s resources for their livelihoods — fishing, agriculture, and pastoralism, especially in the upper catchment of the lake. The population is characterized by low socio-economic development indicators, low levels of education, high levels of poverty, weak national integration, historical government neglect, and both perceived and actual marginalization. There is an urgent need for adaptation measures to save the lake and the lives of those in the surrounding areas.
The ASB presents similar but context-specific indicators regarding the basin and its inhabitants. Covering an area of 26,000 square miles and once the fourth largest lake on the planet, the ASB has been slowly dying, shrinking to about one-tenth of its former size. The apparent physical causes are the large-scale diversion of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers for irrigation, excessive water pollution, and recurrent droughts and land degradation. These are the crucial water-related challenges threatening human development in the ASB countries. The consequences range from increased numbers of people suffering from chronic diseases, environmental toxicity, contamination of mothers’ breast milk, and high unemployment rates due to the collapse of what was once a prosperous fishing industry. Although there have already been rehabilitation efforts for the ASB, such as action plans, climate change — alongside other challenges — continues to hamper access to the basin’s resources.
People in these two regions are becoming even more vulnerable to water-related hazards (droughts or climate-accelerated effects of water pollution) if multidimensional approaches are not taken into consideration. To address these challenges, knowledge is key. Despite numerous initiatives, further knowledge on water is still needed and will remain crucial in the future. This knowledge and its applications must also be effectively shared with other actors, including NGOs and government institutions. The lack of such knowledge sharing undermines the capacities of local users in the affected regions and consequently makes water governance and management even more challenging. The LCB and ASB need a “young and diverse force” that is knowledge-driven and capable of addressing existing and emerging water-related challenges.
For this purpose, the proposed project aims to strengthen knowledge, foster its sharing, build new capacities, and promote research in these two regions.
The project enhances knowledge on topics such as Water Governance & Cooperation, Economics in Water Management, Climate Change, Water and Security, Gender Aspects in Water Politics, and Environmental Justice. This is achieved through the development of a new teaching module that covers these aspects. All the above-mentioned topics are relevant for both basins and help to address local needs and challenges.
The online and offline mobility opportunities within the MA programs offered by some consortium partners foster knowledge sharing on climate change, its effects on water, and more effective ways of accessing water resources. Moreover, the engagement of NGOs and government institutions strengthens decision-making structures and processes, taking into account different actors and their perspectives.
The strengthening of capacities in the LCB and ASB regions is supported by two Summer Schools. The participants — mainly students and early-career water professionals — learn about local governance and management practices and how these can be improved.
Academic staff involved in the development of the teaching module are also provided with train of trainers courses (in hybrid format) to ensure that the teaching module is compiled and delivered at a high-quality level.
The project further promotes research activities by supporting students in academic writing, enabling them to produce their own academic papers and publish them in journals.