This post is meant to provide an overview of the background of the project and major topics of discussions during the workshop. The workshop inaugurated the establishment of the South Caucasus Water Academics Network (SWAN) – a UNIC (read as “unique”) community of scholars and practitioners from all five riparian states of the Kura-Aras River basin. Follow up meetings are planned as well as activities to raise funding for future engagement, research and educational and capacity building activities.
Project Summary
Dr. Farhad Mukhtarov (International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam) together with colleagues from Koç University in Istanbul and Oulu University in Oulu have led the project titled “’Advancing EU water diplomacy in the South Caucasus” funded by the EU-UNIC4ER (UNIC European University for Engaged Research). The key goal of the project, which runs between November 2023 and July 2024, is to establish a network of researchers and practitioners from the Kura-Aras river basin to collaborate in the areas of water security, governance and management.
Towards this end, Mukhtarov and team organised a workshop that took place on 3-5 April, 2024 in Tbilisi, Georgia. As part of preparations, Farhad Mukhtarov and Douwe van der Meer have had individual calls with representatives of all five riparian states (Armenia, Iran, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Türkiye) and with societal partners from Turkey (SUEN) and the Netherlands (Deltares). In addition, the UNIC partners (Koç University in Istanbul, Türkiye and Oulu University in Oulu, Finland) have been consulted regularly in order to create a longer-term strategy for a successful event in Tbilisi. Regular consultations have been held with the experts from the USAID funded and Deloitte-led South Caucasus Regional Water Management Program based in Tbilisi, Georgia. This participatory set up has proved successful as SWAN is active and ready to make change. Two more events followed: one at the International Institute of Social Studies on 18 June 2024 and another within the EnPAx conference, also in the Hague, on 21 June 2024.
Major topics and activities
- SWAN is a unique network. Two aspects of this network make it unique and different. First, it is the only network that gathers experts and practitioners from all five riparian states of the Kura-Aras river basin. Secondly, it focuses on socio-economic, cultural and political aspects of water governance and security in a region where water management has been dominated by technical solutions and discussions. Providing a counter-weight to it and stressing the human and the social aspects of water is the key mandate of SWAN.
- SWAN navigates stormy waters. The key strengths of this network is its relative independence to shape policy discussions and agendas on various subjects (water, agriculture, energy), particularly in smaller countries of the region (e.g. Armenia and Azerbaijan). SWAN’s primary competitive advantage is its critical and constructive attitude towards socio-economic and political aspects of water governance in the region. The prestige of the universities SWAN members represent is thus a serious advantage.
- All of SWAN members carry a double positionality – as individuals within their respective socio-political and cultural groups and as scholars/professionals. Paying attention to these identities and fostering links and inter-subjectivities they bring to the table is important for the community to move forward and have an impact. SWAN members cannot be neutral, but they can be open and transparent in the discussions and have spaces and processes to speak through tensions, disagreements and frustrations if and when these arise.
- SWAN will work in the next months to create its mission and key goals, including through follow-up discussions and events.
Multidisciplinary work for SWAN to facilitate
- SWAN aims to engage in multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary work, recognizing the lack of institutional frameworks and infrastructure for such work – both nationally and in the projects hitherto funded by the donors. There are too many silos in academia (both national and international) and governmental thinking, a group of multi-disciplinary scholars with their networks can make a real difference if built on joint purpose and objectives.
- Another issue where multi-disciplinarity can help is the role of data in decision-making. There is a sentiment shared by the experts in the workshop that politicians make decision by intuition and not based on data, something that scholars in political science and economics have long established. Evidence is never used in policy/politics in a linear and direct fashion and is subject to politics and strategising of individual policy entrepreneurs as well as contingency inherent in policy-making.
- Finding new sources of data (e.g. open-source data, data transparency, citizen science) are important given securitisation of data on water flows and quality. However, this may not be sufficient for a desirable policy change. Bringing in expertise on communication, advocacy and the networks we possess, both new data and new ways of advocating for change will have an impact. SWAN is uniquely positioned to do so, especially if this work is based on views and preferences of the water users and communities, which may need to be collected bottom up. This is potentially an area to expand into.
The time is ripe
Several factors make the timing perfect for expansion in this region and for this type of an epistemic network.
- First, there is a real possibility of a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan and a more regional, basin-wide approach to public goods issues.
- Secondly, regional benefits and political agendas get more aligned — there’s more focus on raising public awareness about such issues as water scarcity, floods, mudflows, pollution problems and the pros and cons of continuous public sector reform. There is also an opening in influencing government agendas and involving universities in decision-making. The push for EU-WFD standards and international projects in the region offer an opportunity for an integrated/harmonised approach to water and development.
- The start of the USAID programme is another important stimulus that the network needs to develop and prosper. We can build on these agenda and contribute to these objectives in individual countries.
Water positionalities
Water is viewed not just as a resource but also as a cultural and livelihood component, stressing the importance of considering local communities’ perspectives. This has come out strongly in the workshop discussions with repetitive statements from members that water is part of nature, ecosystem health is important, soil quality is crucial for survival of agriculture and prosperity/peace in the region. SWAN can be the first in the region to call attention to multiple ways of valuing/knowing water, and away from reductionist and siloed discussions of water quantity, quality and flows.