Sustainable Water Resources Management for Climate Change
August 3 (Tue) - August 10 (Tue), 2021
Korean International Cooperative Agency (KOICA) has launched a new online training program to help partner governments facilitate training of fellows during current period of widespread COVID-19. The purpose of this online training program is to share knowledge on sustainable and safe water resources management in line with climate change response, and to enhance capacities of participating countries accordingly. For the year 2021, KOICA in collaboration with International Climate and Environment Centre (ICEC), Gwangju Metropolitan City, Republic of Korea has conducted this online training on “Sustainable Water Resources Management for Climate Change” from August 03 to 10.
The audience of this training was working/mid-level officials in the fields of climate change, public health and engineering, water resources, etc. The ten days intensive training course was designed to create better understanding of global trends on water resources management in line with international collaboration; and to share knowledge on policies and best practices on Korea’s water resources management in Korea and its city governments. Following the application process, KOICA had selected 23 participants from Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR, 16 participants), Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC, 1 participant) and Public Health Engineering Department (PHED, 6 participants).
The opening ceremony on August 03, 2021 started with program orientation and introductory sessions by Mr. Seung Ho Seo (Samuel), project manager of this training program. Welcome address delivered by Dr Won-Tae Yun, CEO International Climate and Environmental Centre (ICEC), the International Climate and Environment Centre (ICEC), and key note message from Mr Hyuk-Sang Sohn, President of KOICA. A comprehensive country report was prepared and presented by Dr. Hifza Rasheed, Director General (WQ), PCRWR to give an overview of the current water and climate change challenges in Pakistan and strategies adopted to address these issues. She highlighted the prevailing issues related to water scarcity, limited storage capacity, water losses, inadequate water pricing, disposal of untreated sewage and industrial waste into the water bodies, slow paced progress of improved access to safely managed drinking water to meet SDG targets, and weak implementation framework of National Water Policy. Following this, all participants were segregated into three groups for the development of action plans.
All of the six training modules were uploaded on the Learning Management System (LMS) of KOICA’s capacity improvement and advancement for tomorrow (CIAT) fellowship. These modules were instructed as; International Cooperation for Water Resource Management and Climate Change Response (Dr Lee Woosung); Urban Assessment Model System (Mr Kim Jongha); Urban Carbon Management System (Mr Oh Byoung Chull); Climate Projection Based on Climate Models (Mr Jin Ho Yoon); Concept and Principles of Integrated Water Resource Management – Using Satellites (Mr Younghyun Cho); Concept and Principles of Integrated Water Resource Management (Dr Sang Young Park); Water Management in Korea – Waterworks (Mr Yeo Chun); Water Management in Korea – Watershed Management (Mr Kyung Hwa Cho); Water-Energy-Food Nexus (Mr Sang in Kang PhD); and Water Treatment for Climate Change Adaptations (Mr Kyoung Woong Kim).
Following the issues identified in the country report and knowledge shared by the Korean experts, the three groups developed their action plans to address prevailing water and climate issues of the country through future collaboration with Korean Government. This intensive capacity building program provided a diversity of online learning materials to enhance the knowledge and capacity of the fellows.
The closing ceremony was organized on August 10, 2021. All group leaders presented their action plans. Group-I, led by Dr. Hifza Rasheed presented the action plan on the Development of Smart Water Management System for the Capital City of Islamabad. The Group-II led by Engr. Masood Ahmed presented the action plan on Reduction of Greenhouse gas emission by preventing one-man driven cars through mass awareness and demonstration of IWRM systems at 24 Metro Bus Stations. The Group-III led by Engr. Rukhsar Amima, presented the action plan on Introduction of water metering system in water supply schemes. KOICA also provided its evaluation of the training program and trainees. Finally, Dr Won-Tae Yun, CEO ICEC addressed the training participants and congratulated them on the completion of training. Mr. Seung Ho Seo (Samuel) announced the formal closing of the training program with expectation that this capacity would contribute to sustainable socio economic development of Pakistan through an effective water resource management and climate change response.
