As the UN kicks off the «International Year of Glaciers Preservation 2025» and the «Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences,» Tajikistan is taking center stage with tech-driven solutions and regional and global cooperation leading the way in water adaptation. In line with these global initiatives and ongoing project (Integrated Rural Development Project/TRIGGER), specialists from Tajikistan’s water sector participated in a two-week (12 – 23 August) study tour to The Netherlands focusing on advanced water resources modeling tools.

Thirteen participants from various institutions of the Republic of Tajikistan; the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources (MEWR), the National Water Information System (NWIS), the Agency for Hydrometeorology of the Committee for Environmental Protection (Hydromet), and the Institute of Water Problems, Hydropower, and Ecology of the National Academy of Science of Tajikistan (IWP) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) participated in this training. This initiative is co-financed by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), with implementation by GIZ. This project represents a crucial collaboration in securing Tajikistan’s water resources through the integration of cutting-edge technology and expertise, in alignment with global efforts to preserve glaciers and advance cryospheric sciences.

The study tour provided intensive capacity-building sessions for Tajik water experts, equipping them with practical skills in using Spatial Processes in Hydrology (SPHY), Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) modeling tools, drone data collection and post-processing and other key aspects of integrated water resources management. The integration of these tools and IWRM concepts will significantly bolster the efforts of Tajikistan’s water sector. Participants also had the opportunity to visit and engage with key stakeholders in Dutch water management, including Unie van Waterschappen and Rijkswaterstaat.

This successful study tour will be followed by a week of in-country training sessions on “Climate change impact assessment on the cryosphere and water resources of Tajikistan”, scheduled to take place in Dushanbe during the first week of September. Additionally, a glacier data collection expedition to GGP Glacier is also planned for the second week of September.