News

The Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region is no stranger to water- and weather-induced hazards. Every year, these disasters result in loss of lives, livelihoods, and damage to infrastructure throughout HKH countries. Climate change and other drivers of change have increased the frequency and magnitude at which disasters such as floods, droughts, landslides, and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) take place in the region, further exacerbating vulnerabilities among mountain people and downstream environments and infrastructure. 

After Afghanistan, Nepal, and Pakistan, the Regional Drought Monitoring and Outlook System for South Asia extends its coverage to Bangladesh.

The floods in Bangladesh are possibly the worst in recent years. In Bangladesh, the Jamuna River broke through an embankment on the night of 17 July 2019, inundating at least 40 villages and displacing more than 200,000 peoples.

New paradigms in Earth observation (EO) science and advancements in geospatial information technology (GIT)–enhanced by the omnipresence of the internet–have allowed us to better understand our environment and quantify impacts caused by natural world phenomena.

The Bangladesh Forest Department (BFD) analyzes and uses land cover data for the national forest inventory, estimation of forest reference emission levels, and other forest management purposes.

Bangladesh’s vulnerability to floods persists even after the devastating 2017 floods, which took a heavy toll on the nation’s people and infrastructure. Climate change-driven calamities put the lives of millions in the country at risk, as pointed out in a 2019 United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report.

Earth observation (EO) technologies have tremendous potential in supporting the implementation of long-term and large-scale research and development programmes focused on resolving data and information gaps related to agriculture in developing countries.

Agricultural and hydrological drought monitoring and early warning systems; drought impacts and climate risk financing; land use practice and policies; and crop mapping and yield estimation are key areas related to agriculture and climate services. These and the emerging potential of Earth observation information and climate modelling in reducing climate related vulnerabilities in the agriculture sector in South and Southeast Asia were discussed at a forum held in Kathmandu recently. The Regional Knowledge Forum on Drought was held at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development Centre (ICIMOD) from 8–10 October.

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), Afghanistan, organized a consultation workshop to develop a system for characterizing watersheds and monitoring rangelands in Afghanistan. The activity was carried out under its SERVIR Hindu Kush Himalaya (SERVIR-HKH) initiative.