Document Type : Research Paper

Abstract

According to strategic resources, the past century has been named the  "Oil Century "; and this century will possibly be named the "Water Century." With the attention paid to the social, economic and ecological developments, the majority of the world’s countries will have a crisis pertaining to this matter. Even in the past century, struggles over water have been major parts of a country’s policy in most regions. This has been also a matter of importance in the regions surrounding Iran. This article tries to answer the following questions: what will the global overview of the water crisis in the following decades? What are the main causes of this global crisis? What is this crisis’ importance for Iran? What are the causes of this crisis in the Central Asia? What solutions can be proposed to address this situation? Therefore, this article will try to highlight the root - causes of this crisis in Central Asia, by referring to the reports of international institutions while assessing the global overview of the water crisis and its causes; this article will also answer the questions raised and propose solutions to address this crisis. The main assumption in this article is that with changes in the economical, ecological and social areas, the water crisis will be considered more important in the following decades and have a major influence on most countries’ policy and especially in the regions surrounding Iran.