Lahore: The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is working with the meteorological and agricultural institutions in Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) to set up a drought monitoring and early warning system, a news source reported. ICIMOD is running the project under its SERVIR Hindu Kush Himalaya (SERVIR-HKH) and Climate Services for Resilient Development (CSRD) initiatives.
SERVIR is a project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). SERVIR-HKH is implemented by ICIMOD in its regional member countries that include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.
The project aims to improve the capacity of national agro-meteorological and agricultural agencies in developing data products related to drought monitoring and enhance the capacities of respective agencies in terms of the interpretation and dissemination of climate services in country-specific contexts.
The objectives are to develop regional agricultural drought monitoring and forecasting data products for South Asia, enhancing national drought monitoring systems by incorporating high spatial and temporal resolution satellite data products and contextualising drought indices with local cropping patterns and crop calendars.
It will also strengthen technical capacities of regional and national agencies for the generation and dissemination of drought monitoring and warning information.
