Country office

• Outcome 1: Risks from climate-induced floods and landslides reduced in the economic and industrial hub of Bhutan
  • Output 1.1: Protection of Pasakha Industrial area from flooding events through riverbank protection, river training and development of flood buffer zones
  • Output 1.2: Slope stabilization to reduce climate-induced landslides in the Phuntsholing Township
  • Output 1.3: Integrated risk hazard assessment and mapping completed in 4 critical landslide and flashflood prone areas with data collection standards compatible with the national database
• Outcome 2: Community resilience to climate-induced risks (drought, flood, landslides, windstorms, forest fires) strengthened in at least four Dzongkhags
  • Output 2.1: Climate-resilient water harvesting, storage and distribution systems designed, built and rehabilitated in at least four Dzongkhags, based on observed and projected changes in rainfall patterns and intensity
  • Output 2.2: Community-level water resource inventory completed and maintained by Dzongkhag administration to increase the adaptive capacity of communities in the face of increasing water scarcity
  • Output 2.3: Disaster Management Institutions at various levels established and trained in four Dzongkhags to prepare for, and respond to, more frequent and intense floods, storms and wildfire events
• Outcome 3: Relevant information about climate-related risks and threats shared across community-based organizations and planners in climate-sensitive policy sectors on a timely and reliable basis
  • Output 3.1: Enhanced quality, availability and transfer of real-time climate data in all Dzongkhags which experience increasing frequency of extreme hydo-meterological events
  • Output 3.2: Increased effectiveness of National Weather and Flood Forecasting and Warning Center through improved capacity to analyze, manage and disseminate climate information in a timely manner

Source: UNDP Bhutan Project Identification Form (May 1, 2012)

Some key accomplishments for the project include:

• The project has prioritized 3 important sub-watersheds – Rati, Saradi and Harpan - and focused on different interventions such as ecosystem restoration, water conservation, land rehabilitation, livelihood diversification and capacity enhancement of government agencies and local communities.
• Practices, like water source conservation and construction of conservation ponds, have been initiated in the pilot sites to address water scarcity issues, since the water sector is significantly affected by climate change in Nepal. These initiatives have helped reduce drudgery in fetching water required for dominant rural livelihood practices, i.e. subsistence agriculture and livestock rearing. 
• Out-migration in Panchase has resulted in an increasing amount of abandoned and barren land. The Project has hence carried out plantation initiatives of endemic multi–use species to protect these lands from further degradation and also complement the needs of rural people for fuel wood and fodder. Additionally, the Project has supported nursery establishment in the region to provide easy access to seedlings species for plantations by the locals. Likewise, land degradation resulting from unplanned rural road construction has been addressed by roadside greenery promotion and roadside rehabilitation, using engineered structures such as ‘gabion cages’ that are supplemented by plantations. Similarly, several landslide and gully control initiatives have also been carried out in the project pilot sites.
• Rangeland management has been done by building compound walls to halt over-grazing activities of the livestock and protect the grassland ecosystem from further degradation. The Project has also distributed fodder species to reduce the pressure on the open degraded land.
• Several river bank conservation initiatives with application of grey-green measures, i.e. engineered structures coupled with bamboo plantation, have been carried out to protect agricultural lands in the river banks to reduce deposition of sediment downstream.
• The Harpan Sub-watershed is an important feeder to the nationally important Phewa Lake, which today suffers from massive deposition of silt. The Project has, therefore, carried out a comprehensive study on the siltation process of Harpan Khola and subsequently proposed construction of ecosystem-based siltation control techniques and a siltation dam in the Harpan River.
• The EbA concept has now been mainstreamed in Bachelors of Science (BSc) degree syllabus of the Tribhuvan University, Central Department of Environmental Science (CDES). Similarly, to reduce the research gap, EbA has provided research grants to the students of Tribhuvan University to undertake research work in the EbA site to investigate the effectiveness of EbA options.
• The Project broadcasted radio programs named ‘Panchase ko Serofero’ through Radio barahi-99.2, Radio saligram-100.6 and Syangja FM-89.6, respectively, from Kaski, Parbat and Syangja to increase local level awareness on ecosystems and EbA.

Some policy-related accomplishments include:

• Led by UNDP, the Nepal project has been engaged in the process of establishing the newly formed High-Level Technical Committee on EbA to be led by the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation. The main role of the Committee is to coordinate and mainstream ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation into different sectoral plans and programmes. The Committee includes representatives from various Ministries, such as National Planning Commission, Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development.  The first meeting of the Committee was scheduled for last week of September.
• The results of the Cost-benefit analysis carried out by the Nepal project, led by UNDP, will be presented in a high-level event, organized jointly with the High-level Technical Committee, in October.
• The new Forest Policy (2015) has climate change as one of seven thematic areas and includes EbA as one of the approaches put forward for adaptation. The project, led by UNDP, is involved in a working group developing a 5-yr action plan for the delivery of the climate change area of this Policy in all 75 Districts of Nepal. The project is providing direct technical input into how this key national policy will be implemented in practice with regards to climate change and making the case for integrating EbA measures into its delivery.
• The Nepal project, led by UNDP, has provided technical and financial support to produce draft Guidelines on Protected Forests, which provide regulations and directives on managing Protected Forests and are in the process of being endorsed by Government. The proposed Guidelines incorporate EbA and provide the opportunity for integrating EbA into the national Protection Forest management plans and programmes.

Some key accomplishments for the project include:

• A Vulnerability Impact Assessment (VIA) has been carried out to determine which EbA interventions can be used to support the communities in the selected project area.
• Three vulnerable areas have been identified in the NYCLR: Canchayllo, Miraflores and Tanta. Two EbA measures per area are being implemented.
• Information from the VIA (Vulnerability and Impact Assessment) for the NYCLR is being incorporated into the updated version of the NYCLR Master Plan.
• Support to both regional governments in Junin and Lima in the updating of their Regional Climate Change Strategies and the addition of EbA approaches to these tools.
• A local Communication Network for the NYCLR has been developed by the project. 11 park rangers and 21 students of the NYCLR have learnt about climate change and how to use communication tools for their own development.
• In Tanta, the community decided to free the Moyobamba area (vicuña natural habitat) of domestic animals to be an exclusive area for vicuñas.
• Capacity building and technical assistance in livestock and vicuña management, including animal husbandry of vicuña population.
• Installation of fences in 2000 hectares of communal land for livestock, and conservation of 1500 hectares of vicuña habitat.
• In Miraflores and Canchayllo no regret measures are being implemented. In both places local villagers have become local researchers and have strengthen their capacity in pasture and water management.
• In Canchayllo, a natural water reservoir dam was restored to reduce water filtration and ensure its storage during the dry season. Also, an underground pipe was restored to transport water from the upper part of the watershed (near Chacara Lake) to the community farm (Jutupuqio).
• In Miraflores, a protection zone (5ha) was enlarged around the Yanacancha lakes encircling the upper micro-watershed in order to prevent cattle and other animals from entering the area.

Policy-related accomplishments:

• In August 2015, Peru officially approved Policy Guidelines for Public Investment in Biodiversity and Ecosystems, with the expectation that this instrument will facilitate new and additional public investment aligned with the National Biodiversity Strategy.
• Of particular interest is that the UNDP BIOFIN and the Peru Mountain EbA projects worked together since February 2015 in close coordination with the Ministries of Environment and Economy and Finance to facilitate the incorporation of climate change and specifically EbA into the guidelines. For example, the consideration of climate change as a cross-cutting issue is included as one of the Strategic Policy Guidelines (p6).
• As next steps, BIOFIN and the Peru Mountain EbA project are collaborating in the design of a pilot Public Investment Project for the community of Tomas in the Nor Yauyos Cochas Landscape Reserve, as an opportunity to replicate EbA actions undertaken in Tanta and taking advantage of the political will and support of the Tomas municipality.
• Following this, UNDP and other agencies will support MINAM and MEF in capacity building of local and regional governments and development of additional pilots, as part of an effort to expand the use out the guidelines at the national level. Technical support will also be provided to develop impact indicators to be used by MINAM and MEF of the biodiversity and ecosystem-focused PIPs.
• The Peru Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) is currently being developed. The project team has contributed by reviewing the draft and providing recommendations on how to integrate EbA. The draft INDC includes EbA measures in its sector/system specific adaptation contributions for water, agriculture and forestry. The INDC even refers to the Mountain EbA Programme specifically as a key project that has contributed to the adaptation process in Peru.

Climate Data Digitization

Overview
At the request of the governments of The Gambia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, the UNDP Programme on Climate Information for Resilient Development in Africa (CIRDA) is taking steps to assist in the preservation of historic climate data in these six African Least Developed Countries.

In its initial phase of support, two experts were commissioned by the CIRDA Programme to meet with National Hydro-Meteorological Services (NHMS) to provide guidance on digitization efforts and create a plan to capture digital records, particularly data used to manage climate impacts on agriculture, fishing and floods. With new training support, three countries are now scaling up efforts to capture historic records and digitize tens of thousands of pages of historic climate archives.

Types of Climate Data
Climate data generally falls into two categories: historical data and data from recent and current observations.

While most people understand the importance of current and recent climate data, fewer appreciate the equal importance of historical climate data. Historical data allow one to establish long-term trends, which in turn helps us understand and better plan for future changes in climate. They also help in developing and refining climate models and seasonal forecasts, as well as provide the foundational datasets used for adaptation studies at local, national and regional scales.

Climate models are mathematical representations of the interactions between the atmosphere, oceans, land surface, ice and the sun. Once a climate model is developed, it has to be tested to find out if it works. And since we can’t wait for 30 years to see if a model is any good or not, the models have to be tested against the past in a process that is called “hindcasting” that rely on historical observations. The simple assumption of hindcasting is that if a model can correctly predict current trends from a starting point somewhere in the past, one can expect it to predict what might happen in the future.

History of Climate Data
Meteorological data observations in most African countries date back to the early 19th Century (for example, in Tanzania the first meteorological observation was made along the coast in 1850). Once recorded on paper, the observations are kept in various formats in data archives usually located at meteorological agency headquarters or even still at the stations where the measurements were originally taken. But this historical data is recorded largely on paper and, depending on the age of the paper and the condition of the archives, some of the data is unreadable or is wearing out at dramatic rates, due to handwritten ink that fades over time. 

Initial Needs Assessment
During an initial needs assessment, only Malawi reported having partial access to digitized historic data, with other countries often reporting no central digital archive of these data existing. One reason for this is that historic climate data sets are often held by other agencies aside from the NHMS. Alternative agencies holding historic data sets often include the Ministries of Agriculture, Water, Transport and Education.

Why Digitization is Important
Climate data is an essential ingredient needed to develop weather/climate-based early warning systems and a cornerstone for resilience building efforts. It not only allows us to monitor adverse impacts across development sectors, populations and ecosystems, but it also helps countries to prepare for and adapt to the realities of climate change. This information can be analyzed and applied to protect development gains and aid in the achievement of National Adaptation Plan goals. It is also an essential ingredient in creating more accurate forecasts that can be used to track storms, protect lives and build more resilient livelihoods. Unfortunately, in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, these important data – often recorded with pen and paper – is being lost at a remarkable rate. Civil War, material decay and the sands of time are literally erasing the historical record of climate in the region.

The Strategy
National digitization strategies depend on a number of factors, including where and how data is stored, legal frameworks, in-house capacity, budgets, and equipment. Generally speaking, and often utilizing external funding, governments electronically capture paper records into a database with the first step being to record digital images of the data using a scanner or digital camera. This ensures that a digital copy of the record is preserved and can be be shared. However, the data itself is not yet in a digital form where it can be used to make calculations or for computational analyses. This requires either manually keying the records into a digital database, using software such as ClimSoft or Excel, or using automatic character recognition software to read, analyze and warehouse the new digital archive. Each variable and data set is important for improved weather forecasting and historical climate tracking, with different variables being used in different applications e.g. wind speed, humidity, temperature and incident radiation all important to calculate evaporation which is used model hydrological flows and crop development. An example of some of the main data useful for climate applications are given below:

Top Level Data Sets

• Rainfall
• Temperatures
• Wind speed and direction
• Humidity
• Sunshine duration
• Incident solar radiation
• River Discharge
• Salinity
• Surface Water levels

Resources and Further Reading

• Why we need to save Africa’s historical climate data
• Digging For Data
• RFP: Training Support For Data Rescue and Digitization for the Gambia, Zambia and Malawi
• Data Rescue Country Resource Needs Estimates
• Guidelines on Climate Data Rescue - World Meteorological Organization
• Rescue and Digitization of Climate Data by Extraction from ...
• West Africa Climate Data Rescue and Digitization Facility The African ...
• International Environmental Data Rescue Organization - Home Page
• The Quest to Scan Millions of Weather Records - The Atlantic

Images

From top to botton: Historic records in The Gambia, where the archive is not in a good state, but recent records are intact; handheld data recue efforts in Uganda; and the Tanzania Meteorological Department's historic archive.

Programme Outputs

UNDP's CIRDA Programme provides support to 11 vulnerable countries African countries in their efforts to enhance their capacity to collect, analyze and disseminate climate information as a tool in adaptation planning. It does so by providing expert technical advice, promoting regional cooperation efforts, and capacity building.The support provided by the CIRDA Programme is in addition to each countries efforts to implement individual national climate information/early warning projects.

Click below for the project's terminal evaluation and completion reports

• CIRDA Programme Terminal Evaluation
• CIRDA Programme Completion Report

Click below to learn about some recent on the ground achievements:

Uganda

Zambia

Benin

Sao Tome and Principe

Tanzania