22 Feb 2016 A one day Country Consultation workshop on SERVIR Hindu Kush Himalaya Needs Assessment was jointly organised with Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) at its headquarters in Islamabad on 23 February 2016. The SERVIR programme is USAID-NASA joint venture, which supports developing countries to improve their environmental management and resilience to climate change through integration of Earth observation information and geospatial technologies into development decision making. The workshop Introduced goals, objectives and outcomes of SERVIR HKH to the partners and beneficiary groups; identified gaps in the use of Earth observation and geospatial technologies and capacity building needs; assessed he status of data availability, access and sharing; identified needs for user tailored decision support tools in the priority thematic areas; and discussed and explored potential collaboration strategies with relevant institutions for engagement in implementation of activities. Fazal Abbas Maken, Federal Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology iIn his inaugural speech, said most water resources of Pakistan originate from the north — the Hindu Kush Himalaya region — thus being called the mother well of the Indus basin irrigation system and the mainstay of Pakistan economy. ‘The Hindu Kush Himalayan region is subject to a number of complex and multi-pronged issues therefore, multi-pronged strategies are required to address those’, Maken said. The guest of honor was Dr Ghulam Rasool, Director General, Pakistan Meteorological Department. Muhammad Ashraf, Chairman PCRWR delivered the welcome address while Basanta Shrestha, Director Strategic Cooperation also addressed the event. Birendra Bajracharya, Regional Programme Manager, ICIMOD, highlighted the goals, objectives and outcomes of SERVIR HKH. Dan Irwin, SERVIR Global Program Manager and Eric Anderson from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center participated remotely. More than 50 participants from different institutions in Pakistan attended the workshop.