SUSTAINABLE USE OF WATER RESOURCES IN ARID REGIONS

Abstract

The paper examines the importance of the ecosystem approach to the sustainable use of water resources in arid regions and the mechanisms of its practical implementation. Water scarcity, climate change and anthropogenic pressure disturb the natural balance of arid and semi-arid regions and constitute one of their central problems. The author substantiates the need to manage water not only within a conventional engineering or economic framework, but as an ecosystem that accounts for the links between society, hydrology and living nature. The main directions of the approach are outlined: integrated management of water, land and biological resources, conservation of biodiversity around water sources, and support for the self-restoration of natural hydrological cycles. Using the Aral Sea region as an example, the author discusses the creation of green cover of saxaul on the dried seabed, the protection of tugai forests along the Amudarya and Syrdarya, and, since about 90% of Uzbekistan's water is consumed by agriculture, the introduction of drip irrigation and the safe reuse of collector-drainage water.