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Global warming, deteriorating water infrastructure and transboundary factors are threatening Uzbekistan’s long-term surface water supply. Groundwater is a potential alternative for irrigation purpo...

The presence of agriculture is diminishing in today’s society: it provides only a small percentage of jobs, and the number of visible farms that can provide exposure to agricultural processes is continuously decreasing. We hypothesize that the direct involvement with farm activities or interaction with farmers and visual appreciation of agricultural processes of all kinds, influences rural inhabitants’ relationship to agriculture. We assume that the latter plays a role in how far inhabitants are attached to their place, and more specifically, perceive rural place. In this paper, we aim to initiate a discussion on this complex social relationship and suggest a model to capture fine interactions between relationship to agriculture and rural place attachment. We examine the direct and indirect effects from the density of resident farmers on these interactions. We set up a model using data from empirical research in Germany conducted in 2016. We surveyed rural inhabitants and interviewed farmers in villages purposefully sampled based on high and low density of resident farmers. To reveal underlying relationships among the latent constructs and more directly measurable indicators, as well as the indirect effect of farm presence on place attachment through its effect on forming perceptions about agriculture, we operationalized our analysis using a structural equation model. Besides a good model fit, our initial results indicate that rural inhabitants form stronger relationship to agriculture when the density of resident farmers is higher. Further, farm presence and attachment to rural place are positively related, but needs to be better captured.

In places where state has been historically the most dominant actor of all reforms, it can be particularly challenging to develop non-state forms of organization and governance such as agricultural cooperatives known to reduce transaction costs and utilize economies of scale. This paper explores the latest state policy on the development of agricultural cooperatives in Uzbekistan through the prism of its compatibility with the existing institutional conditions. An exploratory case study approach was used to conduct interviews with representatives of key actors involved in the policy formulation at the national scale and its implementation in two pilot provinces. Applying the analytical instruments of the procedure for institutional compatibility assessment (PICA) on the one hand and based on empirical insights from in-depth interviews (n = 22) and internal policy documents on the other hand, we have identified a set of crucial institutional aspects (CIAs) and their relative importance for the establishment of the cooperatives in Uzbekistan. In addition to the incompatibility of an excessively and exclusively regulatory nature of the intervention with the desired voluntary form of cooperatives’ organization, we find that main sources of the policy (in-)compatibility lie within the degrees of information asymmetry, farmers’ trust towards the state, and the capacity of the authorities. Although the state’s top-down approach was effective at quickly establishing the cooperatives formally, most farmers were informed about the policy only symbolically, who then remained largely skeptical about its value, and considered the state responsible for its implementation. The findings highlight the need for a change in broader institutional environment and allowing time for learning and internalization of self-organization principles by farmers in order to make the economic advantages of cooperatives possible.

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is increasingly embedded in higher education (HE) due to the current emphasis on tackling the environmental crisis. Similarly, Civic Society Organisations are expanding their mobilization and practical action in communities. These approaches can reach almost all people on the planet and open avenues for effective global action around sustainable development. It is important to connect both learners and develop agents of change in society. In this paper, we focus on how digital resources can support democratization of knowledge production and improve equitable citizen participation in ESD and practical action at the local and global levels. The paper investigates structures, processes and components that support transnational collaboration in digital spaces, particularly, around the enhancement of sustainable environmental attitudes. We use Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) as a basis to develop EcoCOIL as a versatile model for expanding coalition building tools and principles, to promote environmental citizenship and develop multi-layered communities of practice. Stakeholders include university students and staff, technical experts, business leaders and entrepreneurs, social innovators, policy makers, Community Social Organisations (CSOs), etc. EcoCOIL focuses on co-created wisdom sharing across intercultural, intergenerational and transdisciplinary actors; it brings an innovative, participatory angle to curriculum development by integration of lifelong learning principles and practical facilitation of sustainable behavior within communities in real time.

In light of growing pressure on forests benefit sharing is increasingly gaining attention as a governance approach to facilitating more equitable and sustainable interactions and outcomes. While benefit sharing is one of the key components of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks) programs and policies under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the approach is also actively debated within other resource governance contexts such as biodiversity and water. The debates however remain largely independent from one another. We particularly examine how benefit sharing could contribute to transformation of conflicts. Using discourse analysis and drawing from the broader scholarship of benefit sharing and property rights theory, we propose distinguishing appropriation-oriented and provision-oriented types of benefit sharing within REDD+. For sub-Saharan Africa, we see the need for such structured institutional analysis, which may point to particular emerging and persistent resource use inequalities as a new source of conflict. We investigate four case studies of REDD+ progress in Ghana, Tanzania, Cameroon, and Uganda that reveal some systemic challenges in achieving equitable and sustainable benefit sharing. The paper demonstrates that distinguishing and structuring appropriation and provision types of benefit sharing is indeed helpful as they are likely to be indicative of different outcomes. Our case studies also reveal challenges of policy-procedural nature such as weak land tenure arrangements and absence of carbon rights framework, but also fundamental challenges of agency nature such as conflicting interests vested in agriculture and tendency of concentration of benefits in the hands of few powerful actors.

The purpose of this article is to analyze how path dependency combined with socio-economic and techno-ecological characteristics can lead to varying degrees of change in riparian water allocation. A longitudinal comparative study of three cases from the Ferghana Valley, each with a distinct degree of path dependency, is presented to understand how riparian parties responded when they faced pressure to reallocate. Therewith we distinguish (a) drivers of pressure pushing toward a change from (b) sources of path dependency resisting a change. Establishing similarity in drivers of pressure across all three cases, we systematically study the varying impact of established institutional arrangements leading to strong, moderate, and weak resistance to a change. The analysis reveals three key sources of path dependency explaining the strength of resistance: (i) vested interests, (ii) infrastructure control, and (iii) network effects that form the so-called “baggage” in riparian relationships. We discuss the interplay among these sources and their corresponding impact on the short- and long-term outcomes. Overall, the study brings forward the importance of dealing with “baggage” in riparian relationships to be able to effectively respond to new challenges and implement reforms in a sustainable way.

Governing land tenure and particularly ownership rights to land in post-socialist Russia is a long-term process that involves changes in norms, rules and administrative procedures. We analyse the land privatization reform in the context of evolving institutional limitations caused by the discontinuity and inconsistency of reform: domination of common (shared and joint) ownership, complications related to registering titles and lease agreements, and weakening of the state’s role in controlling sustainability of land use. The agricultural districts of the Kulunda region of Altai Krai serve as a case study to show that, because of the development of informal local practices, the institutionalization of land relations is increasing as the investment appeal of the agricultural sector grows. Materials from in-depth interviews, participant observation, informal conversations and interactions, stakeholder workshops and statistical reports, are used to analyse existing practices in the interaction of the key actors in processes that are shaping up the current land tenure system. We discuss implications of the identified inconsistencies for long-term stability of the land tenure system and sustainability of land use. We will show that insecure formal land rights and the partly not functioning governance system pose high risks for innovation in agriculture. We observe that informal practices emerge to fill the flaws in the formal institutional arrangements, thereby increasing the relative stability of the resulting land use model. However, the overall prevalence of informal practices hinders the ability of actors to make long-term plans based on reliable expectations, raising equitability concerns and undermining efforts to shift to new technologies.

While in the international literature water sharing in the Syr Darya Basin per past agreements is widely portrayed as most benefiting Uzbekistan, here the dynamics of water allocation within small transboundary tributaries in Ferghana Province show Uzbekistan as benefiting least. The case study highlights that water allocation for Uzbekistan within the tributaries has decreased over the years. Uzbekistan's approach to compensate for the reduced allocations by means of other water sources has had large long-term cost implications for irrigated agriculture as well as the irrigation bureaucracy. This article contributes to the international debate on benefit sharing in transboundary rivers. The article highlights that costs should be incorporated into the benefit-sharing approach, and therefore the focus on benefit sharing alone is misguiding riparian states. Furthermore, the article raises the need to reevaluate benefits, since perceptions of potential benefits change over time.

The main aim of this paper is to analyze the characteristics of the drinking water quality in Kabul city and identify its suitability for drinking. During the work, a total of 60 water samples were collected from four drinking water sources (qanat, open well, tap water, and a hand pump) located at different points and were tested for physical, chemical, and biological parameters. Physical and chemical analyses were performed according to the standard methods, while a bacterial analysis was performed by using the Wagtech Potatest single incubator test kit and membrane filter method. The results obtained were compared with the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Afghanistan’s National Standards Administration (ANSA). The study showed that physical parameters were within acceptable limits for qanat, open well, and tap waters. However, color, taste, odor, and turbidity values exceeded the recommended limits for hand pump wells. All analyzed chemical parameters were within permissible limits recommended by WHO/ANSA. The bacteriological analysis showed total coliform and fecal coliform contamination, particularly in warm weather conditions. The bacteriological contamination reveals the mixing of the sewage water with drinking water due to expired corroded pipes and discharge of wastewater to the groundwater. Several governance recommendations are proposed for improving water quality. They include strengthening coordination between government and public, considering options to install a new water distribution and sewage collection networks, enforcing standards for adequately preventing contamination from septic tanks, and increasing public awareness on low-cost measures such as boiling the drinking water before intake.

It is broadly agreed that development needs and effects from changing environment will increase pressure on the ways natural resources are utilized and shared at present. In most parts of the world, resource stress has already reached unprecedented levels setting resource sustainability high on the policy agenda on multiple governance levels. This paper aims to explain how the benefit sharing approach can help reframe the debate for sustainability, its advantages and disadvantages for transforming governance challenges and adapting to increasing resource stress. We bring together fragmented discussions of benefit sharing from three resource domains: water, land, and biodiversity. Both theoretical and empirical examples are provided to aid understanding of how benefit sharing can facilitate adaptive governance processes in complex socio-ecological systems. The findings highlight importance of integrating the long-term perspective when societies move from volumes toward values of shared natural resources, as well as setting environmental conservation and equitable allocation as the top priority for benefit sharing to be sustainable.

It is broadly agreed that development needs and effects from changing environment will increase pressure on the ways natural resources are utilized and shared at present. In most parts of the world, resource stress has already reached unprecedented levels setting resource sustainability high on the policy agenda on multiple governance levels. This paper aims to explain how the benefit sharing approach can help reframe the debate for sustainability, its advantages and disadvantages for transforming governance challenges and adapting to increasing resource stress. We bring together fragmented discussions of benefit sharing from three resource domains: water, land, and biodiversity. Both theoretical and empirical examples are provided to aid understanding of how benefit sharing can facilitate adaptive governance processes in complex socio-ecological systems. The findings highlight importance of integrating the long-term perspective when societies move from volumes toward values of shared natural resources, as well as setting environmental conservation and equitable allocation as the top priority for benefit sharing to be sustainable.

Ongoing discussions on water-energy-food nexus generally lack a historical perspective and more rigorous institutional analysis. Scrutinizing a relatively mature benefit sharing approach in the context of transboundary water management, the study shows how such analysis can be implemented to facilitate understanding in an environment of high institutional and resource complexity. Similar to system perspective within nexus, benefit sharing is viewed as a positive sum approach capable of facilitating cooperation among riparian parties by shifting the focus from the quantities of water to benefits derivable from its use and allocation. While shared benefits from use and allocation are logical corollary of the most fundamental principles of international water law, there are still many controversies as to the conditions under which benefit sharing could serve best as an approach. Recently, the approach has been receiving wider attention in the literature and is increasingly applied in various basins to enhance negotiations. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the costs associated with benefit sharing, particularly in the long run. The study provides a number of concerns that have been likely overlooked in the literature and examines the approach in the case of the Ferghana Valley shared by Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan utilizing data for the period from 1917 to 2013. Institutional analysis traces back the origins of property rights of the transboundary infrastructure, shows cooperative activities and fierce negotiations on various governance levels. The research discusses implications of the findings for the nexus debate and unveils at least four types of costs associated with benefit sharing: (1) Costs related to equity of sharing (horizontal and vertical), (2) Costs to the environment, (3) Transaction costs and risks of losing water control, and (4) Costs as a result of likely misuse of issue linkages.

Soil salinization is a major problem in many arid and agriculturally used regions and Central Asia is a prime example for this. Intensive irrigation, saline water resources, shallow groundwater tables and high evapotranspiration rates lead to the enrichment of salts in the top soils and a reduced soil productivity in the Central Asian lowlands. This is aggravated by a strong socioeconomic growth which results in an increase in the water consumption and the intensification of the farming practices (e.g. fertilizer application). This article analyses these problems for the Navoi province in Uzbekistan, a region located in the lower reaches of the Zarafshan River in the Kyzyl Kum desert. Between 2000 and 2015 detailed data on the groundwater table, groundwater salinity and the soil salinity were collected, complemented by meteorological data, soil characteristics, water use, and fertilizer statistics. Based on these datasets the ameliorate soil conditions in the Navoi irrigation zone and their temporal dynamic were assessed. The results show that both the groundwater and soil salinity have improved slightly during the last 15 years. Especially the percentages of samples with a high salinity have been reduced significantly. In 2015 only 0.7% of the irrigated soils have been categorized as highly saline while 71.3% were only slightly saline and 18.3% non-saline, while those values for the year 2000 were 6.1%, 51.5%, and 13.2%. The ameliorate soil conditions, on the other hand, have not improved accordingly, but showed a slight deterioration, even if they are overall satisfactory in 79.6% of the area. The percentage of irrigated soils with an unsatisfactory condition has increased from 3 to 13.9% between 2000 and 2014. This development is not related to any climatological, soil or groundwater parameters, so that the impacts of an increased water usage for urban and industrial purposes (and the related effects on the water quality), as well as the increased fertilizer application, seem to be a possible explanation for the observed trend. The results show the impact of the low efficiency of the irrigation and drainage system, which is outdated, not well maintained and thus often failing, on the groundwater level and the soil salinization, but also how the attempts to update the system during the recent years has led to a slight improvement of the soil and groundwater salinity.