Centre News
New projects at ICIMOD
Three important new project initiatives were fl oods. The ultimate goal is to move towards safe and
launched during the fi rst half of 2009, housed within reliable access to water for household consumption and
Integrated Water and Hazard Management (IWHM), food production, without compromising on water needs
Environmental Change and Ecosystem Services (ECES), for energy and the environment. This is a highly delicate
and Sustainable Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction task, but one where water availability scenarios can
(SLPR), respectively. We thank the sponsors and co- help as a decision-making tool.
sponsors for the support provided for these initiatives.
Initially, the project will focus on implementing
Capacity building for improved monitoring of snow,
hydrological models in pilot catchments at a national
ice and water resources in the Indus Basin
level in the basin. Implementation of these models will
contribute to capacity building of the national partners
ICIMOD and its national partner institutes in the Indus
involved, this being another of the project’s main aims.
Basin have initiated a project to improve knowledge on
In the second part of the project, experiences and results
water availability over time in the Indus. The Indus river
from the pilot basins will be used jointly among the
has repeatedly been pinpointed as one of the rivers
countries of the basin to work towards basin-wide water
most vulnerable to climate change since a substantial
availability scenarios. Funding for the initial phase has
amount of its water is contributed by melting snow and
currently been secured for Afghanistan and Pakistan from
ice. But how much of the Indus’ is meltwater? How much
the German Government and the Asian Development
of this is provided at different times of the year? And
Bank. ICIMOD will continue raising funds so as to
what do changes in precipitation patterns, including
include India and China. Representatives from all four
the shift of precipitation from snow to rain, mean for the
countries participated with much vigour and enthusiasm
downstream water availability in the basin? There are
in the inception workshop.
many questions that deserve a better answer than current
Mats Eriksson, meriksson@icimod.org
Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation Initiative
launched
An inception workshop and regional consultation were
jointly convened by ICIMOD and UNEP in Kathmandu
from 22 -24 June 2009 to launch the Kailash Sacred
Landscape (KSL) Conservation Initiative. The workshop
concluded a pre-inception consultation phase which
provided input from all major partners to develop a
consultative and participatory transboundary approach for
conservation and sustainable development in the greater
Mt. Kailash area in China, India, and Nepal. Participants
represented institutions and ministries from all three
countries, and agreed to an ambitious eighteen-month
knowledge can provide. This project will work towards
closing this knowledge gap.
The project is built around the use of hydrological
models that take melting snow and ice into account
while developing water availability scenarios on
a seasonal scale over several years. This kind of
knowledge is much needed to enable decision makers
to make better informed decisions on water management
and allocation in the basin. It is also needed for
identifying mitigation opportunities against droughts and
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