Project description

Title: Capacity building for improved monitoring of snow, ice and water resources in the Indus Basin
Commissioned by: German Federal Foreign Office (AA)
Country: Pakistan
Lead executing agency: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
Overall term: 2009 to 2011

Context

Large areas of the greater Himalayan region are covered by glaciers. In Afghanistan there are approximately 3,000 glaciers, while in Pakistan the number is estimated at more than 5,200. In Pakistan there is a total basin area of nearly 129,000 sq km, and an actual glaciated area of around 15,000 sq km, with ice reserves of over 2,700 cubic km. Snow and glacial melt contribute nearly half of the average flow of the country’s major rivers. These high altitude wetlands are important for water storage, and for the regulation of climate, floods and drought, and as water ecosystems they perform important functions for the overall water and nutrient cycle. They also support biodiversity and are essential for maintaining environmental quality and sustaining livelihoods. Glaciers have a regulating influence on annual and long-term cycles of stream flow. They moderate fluctuations in the flow, which helps to keep water availability consistent for the mountain farmers.

Ongoing climate change is now melting the glaciers at a faster rate. This means that the discharge of water is increasing while the volume remaining in glacier storage is falling. According to the UN, approximately 90 % of the glaciers in this region are retreating rapidly. At the same time, the faster runoff means there is a heightened risk of flooding from bursting glacier lakes, with potentially devastating consequences for downstream communities.

Objective

Access to water for household consumption and food production in the Indus Basin is safe, reliable and sustainable.

Approach

The project provides capacity building measures to support national institutions. This includes supplies of computing hardware and software, and training in GIS and remote sensing and modelling. These are being used in pilot catchment areas, to monitor snow, ice and water levels. The aim is also to help develop short-, mid- and long-term scenarios of water availability in selected areas of the Indus Basin to obtain useful information for the governments of both Pakistan and Afghanistan as they address water and food security issues. The project also provides training for local communities in risk management and in approaches and techniques for climate change adaptation.

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) plans to extend similar support throughout the Indus basin, which covers parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and India.

The current two-year phase of the project, which began in 2009 and is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, focuses on two pilot regions: Panjshir in Afghanistan and Hunza in Pakistan. With financial contributions to ICIMOD, GIZ is supporting a number of interventions in these regions:

• Establishment of systems to monitor the status and changes over time of snow, ice and water resources in Hunza and Panjshir
• Capacity building for key institutions, enabling them to monitor snow, ice and water resources using remote sensing and field-based techniques
• Development of water availability scenarios for the Indus Basin, using an enhanced database and applying state of the art models and techniques
• Promoting public awareness and putting the improved knowledge of the snow, ice and water conditions to practical use.

Results achieved so far

An inventory of existing monitoring systems in the pilot catchment areas has been completed. This was presented during a cross-border workshop on modelling, in Pakistan in March 2010. With the help of the project, the Pakistan Meteorological Department installed an automatic weather station near Passu Glacier in Hunza Valley, which is functioning properly and is administered by the local authorities.

In March and September 2010, ICIMOD conducted training on snow and glacier melt runoff modelling for the staff of Pakistani and Afghan institutions. Now, several scientific institutions in both countries are working with this model, using their observational data. The results show that the simulations of runoff are very accurate.

In 2011, activities have focused on developing additional water availability scenarios for the Indus Basin, based on the enhanced database and using state of the art projection models and techniques.

Further information

• International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development
  http://www.icimod.org