The importance of economics and governance for the water sector in Kazakhstan, the issues and tools for better water management

Water is a scarce resource in the Central Asian region. We will look at the economic and governance aspects of water management. After reviewing the water situation in Kazakhstan and identifying some of the important issues in the water sector, the economic and financial tools to deal with these issues will be discussed. We will also look at governance structures that allow for more participation of different stakeholders and suggest measuring the performance of different approaches. Examples are given what this could mean for Kazakhstan, before drawing some conclusions about the usefulness of a more economic approach to water issues in Kazakhstan, paying attention also to governance of water works, which would involve also non-state actors.