Land and water use in mountainous regions affected by climate change
It is meanwhile acknowledged that climate change will directly affect future food availability. A particular cause of concern in Central Asia is the reduction of water resources available for irrigation during the growing season due to earlier snowmelt. Farmers depending on water resources from mountainous regions experience a shift of seasonal flood peaks from summer (June/July) to spring (April/May). Whereas traditionally water requirements of irrigated crops rose roughly in parallel with the rise of river discharge, an earlier decrease of river flow entails the risk that water requirements of irrigated crops cannot be satisfied any more without storage.
hydrophil's consultancy focused on an assessment of hydro-meteorological data availability and a review of the evidence of climate change and its subsequent impact in selected areas of Central Asia. Five national consultants in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq screened data availability in their respective countries. Pilot river basins were identified in each country for further in-depth studies and field investigations and a work programme was proposed.
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