Local water management in Tajikistan: Legal framework

Firdavs Kabilov

Legal Consultant, IWMI; Senior Lecturer in Law, Westminster International University in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Email address: firdavs.kabilov@gmail.com

January 25, 2018

Scientific Article

Abstract

Water management plays an important role in the economy of Central Asian states. With the transition into the post-Soviet era, the States implemented several phases of agricultural reforms. The establishment of Water User Associations (WUAs) in Tajikistan started in the 1990s following the implementation of the first phase of Land Reforms in 1998-2000. Main purposes of creating such WUAs, often initiated and supported by international donors, are to operate, maintain and use on-farm irrigation system with the purpose of on-time, adequate and reliable water supply to its water users. No reforms take place in a vacuum. An effective legislative framework is needed to support new initiatives and institutional settings. While being a separate legal entity, a WUA has certain obligations both provided in law and in the contracts they sign. These obligations then are transformed into liabilities, when non-performance or mal-performance occur. Therefore, it is important to know what the law says about the chain of water management and the relationships involved, where WUA stands as an intermediate institution between State water organizations and farmers, the ultimate water users. This paper will look into these legal settings and endeavours to explain the complex nature of local water management in Tajikistan from the perspective of the law.

References

1. Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic Tajikistan, of November 6, 1994.
2. Article 17 of the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan on Normative Legal Acts of 2009 with the latest update being made in 2011.
3. Article 18 of the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan on Normative Legal Acts of 2009 with the latest update being made in 2011.
4. Article 21.2 of the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan on Normative Legal Acts of 2009 with the latest update being made in 2011.
5. Article 45 of the Water Code of the Republic of Tajikistan of November 29, 2000.
6. Article 10 of the Law on Water Users Associations of Tajikistan of November 8, 2006.
7. Article 44 of the Water Code of the Republic of Tajikistan of November 29, 2000.
8. Article 11 of the Law on Water Users Associations of Tajikistan of November 8, 2006.
9. Article 17 of the Law on Water Users Associations of Tajikistan of November 8, 2006.
10. Article 116 of the Water Code of the Republic of Tajikistan of November 29, 2000.
11. Article 117 of the Water Code of the Republic of Tajikistan of November 29, 2000.
12. Article 120 of the Water Code of the Republic of Tajikistan of November 29, 2000.
13. Article 142 of the Water Code of the Republic of Tajikistan of November 29, 2000.
14. Article 144 of the Water Code of the Republic of Tajikistan of November 29, 2000.
15. Article 20 of the Law on Environmental Protection of Tajikistan of 2014.
16. Article 20 (4), of the Law on Environmental Protection of Tajikistan of 2014.
17. Article 122 of the Water Code of the Republic of Tajikistan of November 29, 2000.
18. Article 129 of the Water Code of the Republic of Tajikistan of November 29, 2000.
19. Article 130 of the Water Code of the Republic of Tajikistan of November 29, 2000.
20. Article 6 of the Law on Environmental Protection of Tajikistan of 2014.
21. Article 9 on the Competence of the Authorised State Agencies in the Field of Environmental Protection , Law on Environmental Protection
22. Article 12 of the Law on Environmental Protection of Tajikistan of 2014.
23. Article 13 of the Law on Environmental Protection of Tajikistan of 2014.
24. Article 77-81 on dispute settlement and remedies of the Law on Environmental Protection of Tajikistan of 2014.
25. Article 49 (2) of the Water Code of the Republic of Tajikistan of November 29, 2000.