Global Water Partnership - GWP

Improving flood forecasting and early warning

At a series of meetings in January 2022, GWP Central Asia and the Caucasus helped members of an expert working group in Turkmenistan understand international standards and methodologies for forecasting and providing early warning of flood events. Understanding these standards and methodologies will improve the ability of the country’s National Hydrometeorological Service to forecast floods and issue early warnings.

The working group, set up by an agreement between the World Meteorological Organization and GWP, discussed how flood forecasting and early warning mechanisms in Turkmenistan could be strengthened within a regional programme, ‘CAFEWS: Central Asia-Afghanistan Flood Early Warning System for the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Basins’.

It considered institutional, legal, and technical aspects of problems around flood forecasting and early warning, and the need to increase human resources and financial sustainability in order to solve them. It also discussed gap analysis and prospects for strengthening intercountry cooperation on national and regionally significant tasks, and identified priority needs and a roadmap for strengthening the capacity of the Hydrometeorological Service.

Strengthening water governance in Mongolia

The water challenges facing Mongolia were discussed at the highest levels in April 2022, when GWP Mongolia and the Water Agency of Mongolia convened a meeting under the auspices of the President of Mongolia to bring together members of the government and representatives from the water sector and non-governmental organisations, academics, scientists, researchers, and other experts.

The meeting considered prospects for water demand in Mongolia, solutions to meet growing water needs, and approaches to strengthening water governance. It also heard of other countries’ experiences of transboundary accumulation and use of surface water.

Multiple conclusions emerged from the discussions, including that a target should be set for introducing an integrated approach to water resources management and for establishing river basin councils in Mongolia. Also, the governance, management, protection, rational use, and rehabilitation of water resources and river basins in the country, together with the construction of water facilities and water services, and their ownership and use, should be thoroughly examined.

Drafting an integrated drought management plan for Uzbekistan

The development of a national plan to address drought-related issues in Uzbekistan through monitoring and early warning, vulnerability and risk assessment, and drought mitigation and adaptation measures took several steps forward in 2022, with technical and methodological support from GWP and funding from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Initially, national experts prepared an overview of the current state of drought management in Uzbekistan and put forward the concept of a national drought management plan.

Subsequently, a workshop was held to discuss the steps needed to develop a National Drought Management Plan 2023–2030. Multiple stakeholders from government, research institutes, and non-governmental organisations took part. They recommended that the national plan should cover the following priority areas:

  • Capacity development for monitoring, risk assessment, and drought prevention;
  • Drought mitigation;
  • Capacity building and awareness raising; and
  • Developing regional cooperation.

GWP will play a key role in helping Uzbekistan achieve this final recommendation.