South Asia is among the areas expected to be hardest hit by climate change. Severe flooding in 2007 along the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers affected over 13 million people in Bangladesh; flooding in Pakistan in 2010 severely affected 20 million people. India has likewise suffered numerous events of extreme rainfall, flooding and droughts. In addition the rise of sea level is a real threat to low lying areas in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It will likely have profound effects on food and water security.
The GWP-IWMI workshop will bring together practitioners, policy-makers, and researchers from both South Asia and abroad - for a two-day discussion around the pressing food and water issues affecting the entire region. Topics will include the current state of climate change issues and their impacts on food and water policy and planning, the implications of climate change for looking at the old issues of dams, transboundary water management, surface and groundwater management, and irrigation – all as they relate to South Asia’s shared concerns about water resources for food security. The workshop seeks to initiate an enduring collaboration among South Asian countries to improve their knowledge on agricultural water resources management for greater food and water security.
Contact: Danka Thalmeinerova, GWP Knowledge management officer, danka.thalmeinerova@gwpforum.org