For the operationalization of climate change adaptation actions in the Himalayan region, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) supports multiple partners at the national and sub-national level through the project “Strengthening Climate Change Adaptation in the Himalayas (SCA-Himalayas)” to enhance the institutional capacities across the Indian Himalayan Region to plan, implement and mainstream adaptation actions into projects, programs, and policy frameworks, with a focus on water resources management and disaster risk management.

To cover the ambitious objectives of an Integrated water resources management (IWRM), a consortium of experts from FutureWater (NL), Utrecht University (NL), University of Geneva (CH), and TERI (IN) was mandated to develop a glacio-hydrological and a Water Allocation Model with a focus on Dingad catchment and Bhagirathi Valley in Uttarakhand.

It is proposed that through a series of virtual and in-country training, the methodology, results and glacio-hydrological modeling tools (Spatial Processes in Hydrology–SPHY) shall be shared with the Central Water Commission (CWC), India. CWC after this training may carry forward the research and contribute towards the implementation of IWRM in the Indian Himalayan region.

With this perspective, three virtual capacity-building sessions on “Glacio-hydrological modeling with SPHY in the Indian Himalayan region” is being organized to train the staff member of CWC that were assigned for this purpose. The first virtual session is organized on 9th March 2023.

Participants of the training

These virtual training sessions will be accompanied by the final in-country training on 3-7th July in Delhi, India, targeting a larger group of CWC staff.

A team of international experts will present conceptual background, inputs, model components, outputs, modelling results and guide the participants to apply SPHY glacio-hydrological model. International experts will provide virtual presentations on these aspects to the participants.

Target participants

The virtual training is addressed to five CWC officials which have been assigned, assuming the following expertise and skills:

  • Prior knowledge and experience with water resources data analysis, water resources management and planning, preferably in the Bhagirathi Basin
  • Good skills in data management tools e.g. excel spreadsheets, extracting basic statistics, preferably also related to GIS and modeling.
  • Willingness to participate in a future training session in July 2023.

Trainers

  • Dr Sonu Khanal (FutureWater), the lead expert for the training session; an expert on glacio-hydrological modeling of the Himalayas, with more than 10 years of experience in Asia, Europe, and Africa.
  • Dr. Faezeh Nick (Utrecht University), lead trainer for glacio-hydrological modelling; an expert on glacio-hydrological modeling of the Himalayas and Greenland, with over 16 years of experience working on glaciology, numerical modeling, hydrology and climate change.

More information about the project can be found here.