Project Summary:

Climate change has been leading to more frequent and more intense hydrometeorological disasters resulting in greater exposure and impact e.g., the economic effect of flooding in Uzbekistan due to climate change can be estimated at US$ 236 million. Uzbekistan sets climate change adaptation as a priority in its first Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement highlighting the need to establish a Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (MHEWS).   Accordingly, this project will respond to the critical need for modernization of the country’s early warning system into an impact-based MHEWS (initially focused on floods, mudflows, landslides, avalanches and hydrological drought in the more populous and economically important eastern mountainous regions of Ferghana Valley), an essential element of the country’s climate risk management framework. In the face of increasing climate risks, this system will serve to enhance the climate resilience of the people of Uzbekistan (indirect beneficiaries), including the most vulnerable and poor rural communities living in mountainous areas currently at risk from climate-induced hazards.