Back to news
2 Jan 2015 | News

Promoting regional efforts to reduce flood vulnerabilities

ICIMOD, in collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), organized the eighth Regional Steering Committee (RSC) meeting for the HKH-HYCOS project.

1 min Read

70% Complete
Inauguration of the newly established FABKA secretariat in Kathmandu. ICIMOD, 2019.

This final SRC meeting of the current phase was held from 22 to 24 September 2014 at the ICIMOD headquarters in Kathmandu. Participants from Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan as well as the WMO, Government of Finland, Finnish Meteorological Institute, ICIMOD, and international experts reviewed the project progress and endorsed a project proposal for the next phase, focusing on delivering lifesaving flood warning messages to vulnerable communities.

The HKH-HYCOS project is working to establish a regional flood information system in the HKH region in close collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the six regional partner countries namely, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. More specifically, the project seeks to reduce flood vulnerability in the Indus and Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river basins by minimizing loss of lives and livelihoods. To that end, it works to strengthen regional cooperation for sharing flood data and information among the member countries. The project is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Finland

1. Participants of 8th Regional Steering Committee Meeting for the HKH-HYCOS project
The project has upgraded 37 hydromet stations in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan. These stations can now automatically observe rainfall and water level measurements. The project has established web-based regional and national flood information systems for sharing real-time data and information for reducing risks. The project is also piloting a regional flood outlook model using Mike 11 hydrological software. Apart from real-time hydromet data from the 37 stations upgraded by the project, freely available rainfall forecast data is being inputted into the flood outlook model to add value and improve accuracy of the model. In order to sustain the initiative, the project has focused heavily on enhancing partner organizations’ technical capacity in flood forecasting and communication, and sought public private partnerships, especially with telecom operators, for disaster risk reduction.
In view of the imminent funding shortage between the end of the current phase and the next phase, RSC members have committed to supporting some of the project activities through their national budget.

Stay current

Stay up to date on what’s happening around the HKH with our most recent publications and find out how you can help by subscribing to our mailing list.

Sign Up

RELATED CONTENTS

Continue exploring this topic

16 May 2017 News
Successful Spring Field Mission to Yala Glacier, Langtang, Nepal

View Slideshow (13 photos with caption) At Yala Glacier, a positive mass balance (more accumulated snow than melt) during the ...

A Commitment to Implement Water Use Master Plans in Saptari, Nepal

Participation of the private sector has opened up avenues for joint collaboration with local authorities for sustainable WUMP schemes and ...

30 Jan 2018 Climate change
ICIMOD Supports LAKI through Side Events at Major International Conferences

ICIMOD is leading the LAKI process, a collaborative initiative between the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ...

29 Apr 2016 News
Glaciology Student Work Presented at ICIMOD

On 8 April 2016, four students in their final year of MS Research in Glaciology shared their thesis progress with ...

9 May 2017 KSL
Picture Series: A New Generation of Trainers

Within this framework, several picture series community awareness sessions on different topics have been conducted in the past year and ...

27 Feb 2016 News
Enhancing the Large Cardamom Production

Large cardamom (Amomum sabulatum Roxb) is the high value cash crop and main source of cash income for farmers in ...

27 Mar 2015 News
SERVIR-Himalaya takes satellite imagery technology to the grassroots

Community members learn to use satellite imagery for monitoring their forest More than 30 community members from Khayar Khola watershed in ...

24 Dec 2015 Livelihoods
Bee farmers in KSL-India Learn Modern Methods of Beekeeping Management

  Rural communities in the Kailash Sacred Landscape (KSL)-India have a rich tradition of beekeeping with the indigenous honeybee, Apis cerana. Over ...