Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) risk reduction in Northern Pakistan

Flash floods from glacial lakes pose the biggest danger to lives and economies in Himalayan countries. UNDP supports the Government of Pakistan to reduce the risk of glacial lake floods by integrating disaster risk reduction strategies with climate change adaptation in high risk areas.

UNDP seeks to develop the human and technical capacity of public institutions & local communities to understand and address immediate glacial lake outburst flood risks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan provinces of Northern Pakistan. A glacial lake outburst flood is a type of outburst flood that occurs when the dam containing a glacial lake fails.

Through this project, we are strengthening resilience to respond to climate and other environmental impacts through effective conservation and management of natural resources and the implementation of related national policies.

Sustainable Energy for All

Pakistan faces severe energy crisis and communities in many areas have little or no access to dependable energy sources. This provides the opportunity of extending sustainable and renewable energy options across these energy scarce areas. Solar, wind, hydro and biogas/biomass systems have been demonstrated globally as perfect solutions to meet local energy demands. Similarly, promoting low cost energy efficient solutions is another way of addressing the energy crisis faced by Pakistan. We will be working towards promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency as mitigation measures. These measures would have a large-scale replication scope in remote areas of the country.

Ecosystem Protection

The livelihoods of majority of population of Pakistan are dependent on the use of natural resources including land, water and fisheries. In the remote mountains, arid/semi-arid and coastal areas, the dependence of local populations is almost entirely on the natural assets. Some of these eco-systems are also of global significance and home to the plants and animal species that are rare and endemic. To protect the livelihoods of the local communities and the natural capital, it is imperative to promote sustainable use regimes in these eco-systems. UNDP, through targeted interventions, will promote sustainable use of natural resources by providing better alternatives to the local communities to transform them from resource users to resource managers. UNDP is also promoting a landscape approach for the survival of snow leopard and its prey species in Northern Pakistan by reducing threats and applying sustainable land and forest management in critical habitats.