Abstract
<jats:p>This study examines the legal regulation of transboundary waters in Central Asia, focusing on the Amu Darya and Syr Darya basins. The objective is to assess how international and regional legal frameworks, institutional mechanisms and procedural tools—including transboundary environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA), annual operating protocols and compensation mechanisms—support cooperative, sustainable basin management. The methods combine normative legal analysis of international conventions and basin treaties, a comparative case study approach (Rogun and Toktogul), a documentary review of ESIAs and reports of basin organization, and a synthesis of secondary literature. The key findings indicate that the existing multi-layered architecture provides essential procedures for cooperation but leaves practical gaps in transparent compensation formulas, transboundary groundwater governance and sustainable financing for shared monitoring. The Rogun case highlights the need for early, jointly agreed ESIA terms, enforceable mitigation and multi-year contractual arrangements. The Toktogul case demonstrates the operational necessity of formulaic annual protocols, interoperable real-time data exchange and timely compensation mechanisms. The conclusions stress that harmonizing national law with basin agreements, establishing neutral technical secretariats, implementing interoperable monitoring and verification systems, and creating formal compensation facilities increase predictability, reduce transaction costs and strengthen resilient and mutually beneficial management of transboundary waters in the region.</jats:p>