Iskandar ABDULLAEV
As stated in the "Earth Summit" in Johannesburg, at present time the main obstacle to the sustainable development of the planet is water resources management. Water is a natural resource- a product of nature; it has a great influence on society as well as on environmental and generally facing problems on acquiring of water for everyday life. The analysis of the water management in the specific irrigation systems, states and regions should address the constraints and future development strategies on development, planning and using of the limited water The Central Asia is major arid region of the former Soviet Union. The Soviet era practice of water resources planning and management set restrictions on water consumption and made recommendations for resource development without any means for implementation. As a result water was misappropriated, leading to negative environmental effects. At present both regions experiencing water problems, such as extreme droughts in 1999 and 2000. The water resources problems of the Central Asia are seen as the poor technical conditions of water infrastructure. However, the major constraint of water resources management in the above mentioned regions is institutional weakness of the water management. During the soviet era, in both regions water resources mainly played a great role on agricultural sector. Former Soviet times, in Central Asia and Caucasus had a unique water management policy and institutions. At independence, the Central Asian states put into place arrangements for regional cooperation in water management, however different states have a different approaches on water resources management. In this paper author tries to analyze and suggest the differences in the water management institutions among the Central Asian countries and its Key Words: Water Resources, Central Asia, irrigation, institutions