The Aral Sea Basin Program (ASBP-2) was approved by the IFAS Board on August 28, 2003. Earlier, on October 6, 2002, in Dushanbe, the Heads of the IFAS founder-states decided to develop a new program, taking into account the progress of the first phase of the ASBP-1, and agreed on its main lines of action. In accordance with the decision, the Presidents of Central Asian States requested the Executive Committee of IFAS together with the ICWC and the ICSD, in consultation with the governments of the founder-states, to develop a “Program of specific actions to improve the environmental and socio-economic situation in the Aral Sea Basin for the period of 2003-2010 (ASBP-2)”. The resulting program included 14 priority lines of action, combined into 4 blocks: water management, socio-economic development, ecology and environmental monitoring.

ASBP-2 became the key instrument defining the main priorities in improving the environmental and socio-economic situation in the region for the period of 2003-2009. It was developed based on multilateral partnership and proposals received from all the stakeholders in  the Central Asian States.