CENTRAL ASIA HYDROMETEOROLOGY MODERNIZATION PROJECT

ADDITIONAL FINANCING, COMPONENT “C”.
(СAHMP COMPONENT “C”).

 Tajikistan along with other Central Asia counties works closely with the World Bank in the context of improving the accuracy and timeliness of hydrometeorological information, reducing the risk associated with adverse weather and climate events to people and the economy, and the country's ability to adapt to climate change. In this regard, in order to improve the quality of hydrometeorological and climate services in the Republic of Tajikistan, within the framework of the Central Asia Hydrometeorology Modernization Project (Additional financing), Component “C”, funded by the International Development Association, implemented activities aimed at developing and strengthening cooperation between the National Hydrometeorological Services of Central Asia in the exchange of data, information and knowledge to restore infrastructure and increase human resources. In Tajikistan, the main focus of the project is aimed at reducing the risks associated with adverse weather and climatic events for people's lives and for the economy by improving hydrometeorological and climate services, which will support the economic development of the country. This, in turn, was achieved by modernizing the main infrastructure of the Agency for Hydrometeorology, in order to provide a potential comparable to other countries in the region for reliable operation of monitoring and forecasting systems, improving hydrometeorological and climate services, which meets the national, economic and social needs of the country. The implementation of this project is carried out from November 1, 2011 to June 30, 2018. On 25 June 2019, a "Additional Financing Agreement" was signed between the Republic of Tajikistan and the International Development Association for the CAHMP, which will terminate on 31 March 2023. The Additional Financing for Central Asia Hydrometeorology Modernization Project (AF CAHMP), would allow for: (i) completion of activities previously constrained by cost overruns; (ii) scaling up of activities, particularly procurement of hydrometeorological equipment; and (iii) implementation of new activities, enabling CAHMP to fully achieve the expected Project Development Objective (PDO) and enhance its impact.

The AF CAHMP is implemented at the regional and country level and has three components:

Component (A): Regional Component - designed to strengthen the capacity in Central Asia for developing cooperation between participating Agency of hydrometeorology’s on the basis of EC-IFAS and its Regional Center of Hydrology, whose mandate is to promote cooperation and coordination between the national hydromet agencies and facilitate integration of the network of CA hydromet services; and two country-level components designed to improve capacity in the weakest Agency of hydrometeorology’s:

Component (B): Improving hydrometeorological services in Republic of Kyrgyzstan; and

Component (C): Improving hydrometeorological services in Republic of Tajikistan.

Component C of the Project includes three key sub-components:

Component C.1. Institutional strengthening and improving the human resources capacity and financial sustainability of the Agency of hydrometeorology;

Component C.2. Improving the system of meteorological and hydrological monitoring;

Component C.3. Improving the service delivery system; and

Component C.4. Project Management.

Tajikistan's NHMS has met targets under the Project Development Goals (PDOs) to improve the lead time of forecasts, and the accuracy of general weather forecasts and the accuracy of hydrological forecasts for the growing season have been greatly improved over the past few years fully achieved.

 It is worth mentioning that in the framework of the CAHMP CA "Component C", the most important achievements included the development of a Mid-term and Long-term Development Concept for the Agency of Hydrometeorology, taking into account the integration of modern technologies, a large-scale modernization of the observation network, by automating 16 hydrological and 54 meteorological stations for the collection of hydrometeorological data. Moreover, all meteorological stations have been provided and installed with sensors for measuring temperature and relative humidity of the air with a radiation protection screen, ground temperature sensor, barometric pressure sensor, wind speed and direction sensor. Some stations, depending on the observation plan, were supplemented with sensors to measure the profile of soil temperature and the duration of sunshine, 32 out of 54 meteorological stations were equipped with precipitation gauges. Owing to support of the World Bank, the development and implementation of mobile laboratories, including automated systems for calibration of measuring instruments, modernization and digitization of the archive hydrometeorological information, training activities, improving the human resources capacity of the NMHS Tajikistan, and many other activities under this Project have been implemented. Currently, according to the work plan, the project carries out activities on "optimization and automation of hydrometeorological products", which is the most important activity of the AF CAHMP Component "C", and also works on "Supply of hydrometeorological monitoring equipment, tailored software and training".