the case of Uzbekistan

Changes in the ecological system, such as climate change, and changes in the social system, such as political and economic transformation processes, put water governance regimes under pressure. These regimes must either have at their disposal the needed resilience to cope with these changes and adapt or face the need to transform into another regime configuration which is better suited to cope with these changes. These options entail different levels of institutional continuity and change. Three types of balances between institutional continuity and change in social-ecological systems are elaborated: persistence, adaptive change and transformative change. This paper addresses the challenge of water sector institutions to provide for continuity on the one hand while meeting the need to change and adapt to new circumstances (such as climate change or political and economic transformation) on the other hand. Uzbekistan, which has accumulated intense pressure for change both in the social and the ecological system, serves as a case study. Highly unsustainable use of water resources and cotton monoculture put high pressure on the ecological system. One of the consequences, the desiccation of the Aral Sea, has major negative repercussions in the social system (increasing unemployment and decreasing health status of the population). Since the breakdown of the Soviet Union political and economic reforms have taken place rather reluctantly and have not triggered comprehensive changes in the water governance regime. Minor changes have been introduced at the local level, but the system has not yet departed from its unsustainable path of development. The paper concludes that the Uzbek water sector is rather resistant to change and comprises only a low level of institutional resilience. By applying the concepts of adaptive cycles and panarchy to institutions and water governance reform processes in Uzbekistan some drivers of these processes are identified

Landwirtschaftliche Transformation, Desertifikation und nachhaltige Ressourcennutzung: Fallbeispiel Usbekistan

In Usbekistan ist ein Desertifikationsprozess zu beobachten, der häufig durch ungeeignete landwirtschaftliche Produktionsmethoden verursacht wird. Die meisten der heute in der usbekischen Landwirtschaft bestehenden nicht nachhaltigen Nutzungsmuster haben ihren Ursprung in den institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen der sowjetischen Zeit. Der mit der Unabhängigkeit Usbekistans verbundene Transformations- und Reformprozess stellt eine Gelegenheit dar, diese Nutzungsmuster zugunsten nachhaltiger Strukturen und Produktionsmethoden zu ändern. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersucht die Studie den gegenwärtigen Stand der Reformen einschließlich der institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen und zeigt einige Perspektiven für mögliche weitere Schritte auf. Die Arbeit beruht hauptsächlich auf der Auswertung von Sekundärquellen. Daneben werden 2003/2004 Interviews sowohl mit Vertretern der Wissenschaft als auch der entwicklungspolitischen Praxis geführt. Der erste Schritt dient der Darstellung der konzeptionellen Herangehensweise. Dabei wird auf das Konzept der nachhaltigen Entwicklung zurückgegriffen, dessen drei Dimensionen ökonomische Effizienz, ökologische Nachhaltigkeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit durch die politische Dimension ergänzt werden. Um die institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen bewerten zu können, die erheblichen Einfluss auf den gesamten Entwicklungsprozess und seinen Erfolg haben, werden institutionenökonomische Überlegungen einbezogen. In einem zweiten Schritt folgt zunächst eine allgemeine Charakterisierung des usbekischen Agrarsektors. Anschließend wird der Transformationsprozess, der bisher in der usbekischen Landwirtschaft stattgefunden hat, dargestellt. In diesem Zusammenhang liegt besonderes Gewicht auf der Entwicklung der institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen und der beteiligten Akteure. Der dritte Schritt dokumentiert die Folgen der jahrzehntelangen Übernutzung der Ressourcen. Diese Übernutzung wirkt sich nicht nur in der ökologischen Sphäre, sondern auch auf die Bereiche Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft und Politik aus. Im vierten Schritt werden die Resultate der vorherigen Kapitel zusammengetragen und der Reformprozess wird bewertet. Der Fokus liegt auf dem Beitrag der Reformen zu einem Wandel in Richtung auf eine ressourcenschonende Landwirtschaft. Als Orientierungspunkte werden die Dimensionen der nachhaltigen Entwicklung sowie die institutionenökonomischen Voraussetzungen für effiziente Märkte herangezogen. Der fünfte Schritt fasst die wichtigsten Ergebnisse noch einmal zusammen und gibt Empfehlungen für die weitere Gestaltung der entwicklungspolitischen Zusammenarbeit mit Usbekistan im Bereich der Landwirtschaftsreformen. (ICG2

Water governance in the Kyrgyz agricultural sector: on its way to integrated water resource management?

"As a reaction to growing water scarcity worldwide, sustainable water allocation and use, and in particular the role of agriculture as a major water user, have become important topics in the development discourse. In recent years Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) emerged as an answer to many water management problems. IWRM approaches water management from a holistic perspective and encompasses, among others, the integration of economic, ecological and social aspects. Is implementation of such a holistic approach feasible in developing countries and countries in transition or does it rather overburden them? First experiences have been made with the implementation of IWRM in several developing and transition countries. The aim of this study is to provide some answers to the question of what has been achieved so far. Based on an analysis of Kyrgyz water governance, the study assesses the status quo as well as the potentials for and obstacles to the realization of the normative framework of IWRM in a transition country. Comparing today's institutional framework of water management with this normative concept, it reveals the most significant gaps between norm and reality, but also identifies progress towards IWRM. Recommendations on how to further develop Kyrgyz water governance towards IWRM are provided." (author's abstract

Middle East - North Africa and the millennium development goals : implications for German development cooperation

          Closed-loop controlled combustion is a promising technique to improve the overall performance of internal combustion engines and Diesel engines in particular. In order for this technique to be implemented some form of feedback from the combustion process is required. The feedback signal is processed and from it combustionrelated parameters are computed. These parameters are then fed to a control process which drives a series of outputs (e.g. injection timing in Diesel engines) to control their values. This paper’s focus lies on the processing and computation that is needed on the feedback signal before this is ready to be fed to the control process as well as on the electronics necessary to support it. A number of feedback alternatives are briefly discussed and for one of them, the in-cylinder pressure sensor, the CA50 (crank angle in which the integrated heat release curve reaches its 50% value) and the IMEP (Indicated Mean Effective Pressure) are identified as two potential control variables. The hardware architecture of a system capable of calculating both of them on-line is proposed and necessary feasibility size and speed considerations are made by implementing critical blocks in VHDL targeting a flash-based Actel ProASIC3 automotive-grade FPGA

Exploring Resilience and Transformability of a River Basin in the Face of Socioeconomic and Ecological Crisis: an Example from the Amudarya River Basin, Central Asia

Water from the Amudarya River is a vital and strategic resource for semi-arid Uzbekistan because of its heavy reliance on irrigated agriculture. The Uzbek water management regime, however, has proven to be rather reluctant to adapt to changing environmental and socio-political conditions despite recent massive pressures caused by political, environmental, or donor-induced developments in the region. The aim of this paper is to explore reasons for the low adaptability of the Uzbek water sector and assess implications for the resilience of the Uzbek social-ecological system (SES). By analyzing past losses of resilience as well as first attempts at institutional change in land and water management, we identify drivers as well as structural factors and mechanisms that act as barriers for adaptation and transformation towards a more sustainable system. With the collapse of the Aral Sea fisheries and the basin-wide large scale soil salinization, the SES in the Amudarya River Basin has shifted to a new, less desirable regime. However, the high resilience of the social system is keeping it in its current undesirable state and further degrades its long-term resilience. Our analysis identifies reinforcing feedbacks caused by ecological dynamics, vested interests, and a patronage system that contribute to the resistance to change and keep the system locked in its current unsustainable state. These factors are rooted in the history of the SES in the river basin, such as the economic dependence on cotton and the state-centered management approach. The window of opportunity for significant changes of the larger scale institutional setting that might have been open after the breakup of the Soviet Union was or could not be used to achieve a transformation to more sustainable resources use. Measures aimed at an incremental improvement of the current situation are not sufficient to prevent further losses of resilience. Resilience and transformability of the larger scale SES (political, economic, and institutional settings) are needed to enable the smaller scales (regional and local water management) to adapt and change. However, we identified opportunities for change arising from the slow acceptance of bottom-up management institutions in the water sector and from the extensive restoration capacity of the ecosystems

Continuity and Change in Social-ecological Systems: the Role of Institutional Resilience

In recent years recurring political, economic, and environmental crises require questioning and re-evaluating dominant pathways of human development. However, political and economic frameworks seem to encompass deeply rooted resistance to fundamental changes (e.g., global financial crisis, climate change negotiations). In an effort to repair the system as fast as possible, those paradigms, mechanisms, and structures that led into the crisis are perpetuated. Instead of preserving conventional patterns and focusing on continuity, crises could be used as an opportunity for learning, adapting, and entering onto more sustainable pathways. However, there are different ways not only of arguing for sustainable pathways of development but also of conceptualizing continuity and change. By focusing on institutions, we illustrate the tension between the concepts of continuity and change, how they interact, and how they build or degrade institutional resilience. The analysis draws on empirical research in South Africa and Uzbekistan, which were locked in persistent regimes over decades. Faced with the challenge to transform, Uzbekistan chose a pathway of institutional continuity, while South Africa opted for comprehensive reforms and a high level of change. Based on these case studies, we illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of institutional continuity and change. Elements of institutional continuity during times of transformation include preserving key institutions, which define how the rules are made; maintaining social memory; providing transparency of reform processes and allowing them time to take effect. Elements of institutional change required during phases of consolidation include flexible legislation; regular reviews; and adaptation of legislation during and after implementation

Adapting agricultural water governance to climate change: Experiences from Germany, Spain and California

This study describes and discusses initiatives taken by public (water) agencies in the state of Brandenburg in Germany, the state of California in the USA and the Ebro River Basin in Spain in response to the challenges which climate change poses for the agricultural water sector. The drivers and actors and the process of changing agricultural water governance are its particular focus. The assumptions discussed are: (i) the degree of planned and anticipatory top-down implementation processes decreases if actions are more decentralized and are introduced at the regional and local level; (ii) the degree of autonomous and responsive adaptation approaches seems to grow with actions at a lower administrative level. Looking at processes of institutional change, a variety of drivers and actors are at work such as changing perceptions of predicted climate impacts; international obligations which force politicians to take action; socio-economic concerns such as the cost of not taking action; the economic interests of the private sector. Drivers are manifold and often interact and, in many cases, reforms in the sector are driven by and associated with larger reform agendas. The results of the study may serve as a starting point in assisting water agencies in developing countries with the elaboration of coping strategies for tackling climate change-induced risks related to agricultural water management