The extra £2.7 million support brings the total of UK funding for the South Asia Water Initiative (SAWI) to £3.2 million, said DFID´s Director for South Asia Jim Drummond at a two-day Regional Climate Change Conference, called Kathmandu to Copenhagen, hosted by the Government of Nepal.
Through SAWI, the international community is looking at supporting South Asian countries in their fight against the impacts of climate change.
DFID has been working with the World Bank and AusAID to set up SAWI to develop significant and measurable improvements in international water resource management. The initiative supports high-level dialogues among the seven participating countries, research and analysis as well as building technical skills to better manage the Himalayan rivers.
SAWI draws on learning from the Nile Basin Initiative which has enabled the development of shared investments in water management worth up to $12 billion for water storage, hydro-power, irrigation and flood management. Funding will be channeled through a Multi-Donor Trust Fund managed by the World Bank.
More than 700 million people live in the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra river basins in South Asia. They are amongst the poorest in world. Whilst the demand for water increases through economic growth and a growing population, lack of management at regional level leads to regular floods and drought. Moreover, the impact of climate change is set to make matters worse.
Between two and six per cent of the GNP of South Asia is lost through natural disasters each year. This is largely due to the monsoon, when half the annual rain falls in 15 days. Much of this water is lost as insufficient storage capacity across the region means that monsoon rain drains away within four months of falling.
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