Land and water use in mountainous regions affected by Climate Change - Part 2
It is meanwhile acknowledged that climate change will directly affect future food availability in the study region. Mountainous regions will probably receive less snow in winter and increased glacier melting in summer. Farmers depending on irrigation 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 peak water requirements of irrigated crops can not be satisfied any more without storage. In order to ensure sustainable agricultural and livestock production under changing water availability conditions, farmers will have to adapt their agricultural production systems to the new natural production conditions.
A first consultancy carried out by hydrophil in late 2006/early 2007 provided evidence of significant climate change impact on river flow, and hence on the need to adapt land and water use to the future expected natural conditions. This detailed study was carried out to harden evidence of obvious trends and to identify mitigation/adaptation measures.
This study is focusing on the pilot watersheds chosen after the previous analysis carried out for five countries (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq). The objectives of this study are (i) to conceptualize a suitable development program in the selected pilot watersheds based on required water and land use changes due to climatic impact; and (ii) to contribute to the climate change debate by publishing the results of the works carried out under the first and second consultancy.
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