Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Ahmad Kazemzadeh Dolatabad ¹
• nouzar shafiee ²

¹ PhD in International Relations, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.

² Associate Professor of International Relations, Department of Political Science, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.

Abstract

Integrated water and basin management has been used since the 1970s to resolve the challenges posed by water scarcity and has become a global requirement, specifically after the presentation of Agenda 21 at the January 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Integrated water and basin resource management is one of the optimal methods of water allocation within countries and, and at the same time, one of the global solutions for controlling the water crisis and preventing water disputes in common water basins. One of these important water basins is Aras-Kor, which flows through  five coastal countries: Turkey, Georgia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Iran in the geopolitical region of the South Caucasus.The question now is How much the coastal countries of the Aras-Kor basin have used integrated water and basin management?
The hypothesis of this paper is that despite the efforts and measures taken, the water programs of the coastal countries of Aras-Kor Basin are still far from the principles and criteria of integrated water resources management, especially for the basins. In this article, a descriptive-analytical and library method has been used to examine the extent to which the coastal countries of the Kor-Aras Basin adhere to the principles and criteria of integrated water and basins resources management.

Keywords

• The Aras-Kor Water Basin
• integrated Water and Basin Management
• Water Diplomacy
• Water conflicts
• South Caucasus