Changing Glaciers and Hydrology in Asia - Environmental Health at ...

Sectors AddressedPrograms can span all sectors open to scientific investigation, including ecology, waterresources, health, agriculture, and governance. Missions can prioritize issues to be addressed bycountry context and by specific needs and opportunities for knowledge and collaboration.Illustrative ProgramsPrograms can range from information-sharing forums to educational or internship-typeopportunities such as:541. Sponsorship of workshops and conferences that build cross-boundary and crosssectoralscientific partnerships to improve knowledge about glacier melt and its impacts.This could be done in partnership with ICIMOD, which has a 25-year track record ofpromoting the exchange of scientific and technical information among countries thathave few venues for these type of interactions. ICIMOD has programs and/or hassponsored meetings on various aspects of glaciers, hydrology, high-altitude wetlands andrangelands, and black carbon. In addition, USAID’s SERVIR-Himalaya will reside atICIMOD and should be a partner in such programs.2. Support for in-country scientists from throughout the region for educationaladvancement, participation in scientific gatherings, and collaboration in cross-boundaryresearch studies.Outcomes/Co-BenefitsCurrent expertise and resources, as well as past experience, vary greatly across the nationsmaking up the mountainous regions of Asia. Synergy of effort in this collaboration – includingmulti-country programs to achieve wider investigations using similar methods – would result inclear advantages to the lesser-developed countries while affording the more developedcountries the added advantage of a regional-scale approach to water problems. The sharing ofdata, as well as appropriate technology (e.g. GIS methods, satellite retrieval algorithms, climateand hydrologic models), would benefit all participants. Knowledge of the optimalinstrumentation for in situ measurement of climate and hydrologic parameters would benefit alland would encourage a consistent, standard set of observations across the region. This would,in turn, enhance capacity to perform comprehensive regional scale science. The ability tocooperate on scientific endeavors might become the basis for cooperation on other issues, suchas controlling region-wide pollution, yielding governance and health benefits.5.1.2 Focus on Strengthening Monitoring Capacity for Climate and WaterResources in High AsiaUSAID can support the development of a regional meteorological and hydrologic monitoringnetwork with spatial coverage adequate to characterize the region and to provide inputvariables needed by predictive models. In addition to the more typical hydro-meteorologicaldata, these measurements would also include glacier mass balance at as many locations asfeasible, as well as seasonal snow cover data acquired both from in situ measurements (depth