Cooperation Partners

German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) is the national research centre for Earth Sciences in Germany. GFZ investigates “System Earth“ at locations all over the world with all the geological, physical, chemical and biological processes which occur at its surface and in its interior. It also investigates the many interactions which exist between the various parts of the system, the geosphere, the hydrosphere, the atmosphere and finally the bioshpere.

German Aerospace Center (DLR) is Germany’s national research center for aeronautics and space. DLR’s mission thus comprises (1) exploration of the Earth and the solar system, (2) research aimed at protecting the environment, and (3) development of environmentally-friendly technologies to promote mobility, communication and security.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) was set up in 1947 and is one of five regional commissions of the United Nations.  The partner countries of the programme (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) are among the 56 member states of UNECE. One of its fields of activity is to set out norms, standards and conventions to facilitate international cooperation in different sectors such as energy, environment, trade, land management, etc.

UNECE is the major implementing partner of the programme in component 1. GIZ granted UNECE for the project “Regional dialogue and cooperation on water resources management”. Within the project UNECE analyzes the effectiveness of the current institutions and legal frameworks for transboundary water cooperation and develops proposals for institutional and legal reform to be submitted to the 5 Central Asian governments for approval. The project also provides assistance to the 5 Central Asian states in developing an effective Aral Sea Basin Programme–3.

These overall efforts on improving transboundary water cooperation in the region are supplemented by strengthening the understanding and application of international water law in the region through capacity building and the development of regional guidelines/principles for water management in Central Asia. The project also strengthens the basis for informative decision-making through supporting Central Asian countries and regional organizations to develop regional guidelines for water monitoring and data exchange.

German-Kazakh University (DKU) is an international university in Almaty, Kazakhstan whose quality of education is following German academic standards. The implementation of the MA“Integrated Water Resources Management” at the DKU is within the the “Berlin Process”.  Close coordination with  projects under way as a part of the Berlin Process- as DKU- is pivotal to the programme. One of the recent examples of coordination would be the summer school on “Methods and tools for the assessment, modeling and monitoring of  Central Asian water and land resources”  organised at the DKU by the CAWa with participation of the TWMCA programme experts.