CLIMATE CHANGE AND WATER DIPLOMACY IN THE SYR DARYA BASIN: CHALLENGES FOR KAZAKHSTAN AND UZBEKISTAN

The Syr Darya basin, the largest transboundary water system in Central Asia, has in recent decades become one of the regions most visibly affected by climate change. The retreat of glaciers in the Tian Shan mountains, the shrinking snowpack, and increasingly erratic precipitation patterns are fundamentally altering the seasonal distribution of river flow. These natural shifts are placing additional strain on the water diplomacy mechanisms between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, testing the adaptive capacity of existing institutional frameworks.