Regional Training “Hydro-climatic disasters in water resources management” – Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan

The Regional Training “Hydro-climatic disasters in water resources management” was held from 4 to 6 of November, 2015 in Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan by the Central Asian Regional Water Network CAR@WAN with the support of Cap-Net UNDP and UNDP Kazakhstan.

The main purpose of the Training was to build capacity and raise awareness of decision-makers and the public of Kyzylorda region, as well as representatives of the Central Asian region on the management of hydroclimatic risks in the context of water management. The Training was attended by 36 representatives of local executive authorities, state enterprises, international, educational, scientific and non-governmental organizations from the countries of Central Asia, as well as CAR@WAN Network members. Participation of different stakeholders enabled exchange of experience and sharing opinions from different points of interests.

The training was conducted with involvement of international and local trainers: international expert of Cap-Net UNDP from Kenya – Ndirangu Joseph Wangai, Director of Batiment Engineering and Associates Ltd; Lydia Nikiforova – representative of Republican State Enterprise Kazhydromet. In addition, experts from Central Asian countries made presentations on hydrological natural disasters in Central Asia, also provided information about local case studies on climate change, climate risks and disasters.

The program has been developed based on the analysis of training modules developed by Cap-Net UNDP «Hydro-Climatic Disasters in Water Resources Management» and «Drought Risk Management», taking into account specifics of the Kyzylorda region and the level of the audience. The Training covered issues of application of IWRM to reduce the risk of droughts and floods, adaptation and reducing the vulnerability of the population, and the importance of institutional and legal framework for disaster risk management.

As the part of the training there was organized a field trip to hydraulic structure of the republican importance «Aitek» – gravity dam built and put into operation in 2004. Purpose of this structure is creating overpressure needed to provide guaranteed water intake to the existing system channel Aitek; as well as providing controlled water releases into the duct Zhamandarya.

Following the training there was conducted a survey of participants. All participants noted excellent organization of training, as well as the relevance of the proposed topic. ')}