The two-day workshop held as part of the DAAD-funded project CAWAMNET - Central Asian Water Conflict and Migration Network gathered 25 participants from civil society, scientific and international donor communities, and policymakers from Central Asia, Germany, and Europe. During the two days, the diverse cross-disciplinary group of participants discussed the issues of climate change, water scarcity, water conflicts, and migration to compile an overview of empirical evidence, as well as research and action needs for a more comprehensive scientific dialogue on how to shift away from water use conflicts towards water use cooperation, taking into account the role of migration in this process.
The workshop included two keynote talks and eight group discussions. The latter followed background-setting presentations on the role of climate change, water governance, and human migration in the region given by selected workshop participants. Through the interactive workshop setup, the workshop participants made a first step towards interconnecting currently clustered topics into a nexus approach.
The first day started with a keynote on regional climate change, droughts and agricultural water use efficiency. The follow-up presentations and discussions included the topics of how water scarcity (and current policies) drive water disputes, conflicts, and cooperation and presented examples of successful water cooperation at the local level. The second day started with a keynote presentation on the climate-water-migration nexus in the Central Asian context. Related follow-up presentations and group discussions focused on available adaptation strategies to water scarcity and how migration can become an effective adaptation strategy for managing water scarcity and climate change in Central Asia. The identified policy and research needs for further developing a research agenda on the topic shall be summarized in a joint policy paper and scientific article.
The workshop presentations can be accessed here. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) supported the workshop financially. To identify the state of the art regarding research on the topic, an academic workshop targeting scientists from Central Asia, Germany, and Europe will be held in IAMO, Halle (Saale), on 14-15 September 2023.
