4th CAWa Summer Schools on Methods and Tools for the Assessment and Monitoring of Central Asian Water and Land Resources

4^th CAWA SUMMER SCHOOLS ON METHODS AND TOOLS FOR THE ASSESSMENT AND MONITORING OF CENTRAL ASIAN WATER AND LAND RESOURCES

The Summer School will introduce innovative methods and tools for the analysis and monitoring of water and land resources in Central Asia. These methods are of great value in a framework of integrated water and land resources management.
The 2-week Summer School will combine theoretical lectures and practical exercises with discussion sessions on the implementation of new methods and tools in managing water and land resources in Central Asia. The programme will include an in-depth introduction to geographical information systems (GIS), an overview on remote sensing applications for land and water resources monitoring, an introduction to climatological data analysis and an introduction to glaciology. For the practical exercises in data analysis, the participants will use open source tools such as QGIS (www.qgis.org) for spatial analysis, and R (www.r-project.org) for statistical analysis. PCI Geomatica (www.pcigeomatics.com/pressnews/2015_PCI_KazEOSat.pdf) will be used for satellite data processing.
The Summer School is organized in the frame of the CAWa project as contribution to the German Water Initiative for Central Asia (“Berlin Process”) launched by the German Federal Foreign Office in 2008.

The Summer School addressed dedicated master and PhD students as well as junior university teachers and researchers with interest in geoscientific tools for Integrated Water and Land Resources Management and its practical implementation. The summer school was attended by participants from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Methods and Tools for the Assessment and Monitoring of Central Asian Water and Land Resources

The summer school was organized during 05 to 18 June 2017 at German-Kazakh University (DKU), Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan. It introduced novel tools for the analysis and monitoring of water and land resources. It combined theoretical lectures and practical exercises with discussion sessions on the implementation of new methods and tools in managing water and land resources in Central Asia. The lectures incorporated the detailed information on geographical information systems (GIS), an overview on remote sensing applications for land and water resources monitoring, an introduction to climatological data analysis and glaciology.

The open source tools such as QGIS (www.qgis.org) for spatial analysis, and R (www.r-project.org) for statistical analysis were also used in this summer school. PCI Geomatica (www.pcigeomatics.com/pressnews/2015_PCI_KazEOSat.pdf) was used for satellite data processing. The Summer School was planned in the frame of the CAWa project as influence to the German Water Initiative for Central Asia (“Berlin Process”) launched by the German Federal Foreign Office in 2008.

Lecturers

Following lecturers were appointed for giving the training to summer school participants:

Dimo Dimov (Department of Remote Sensing, Wuerzburg University, Germany)
Lucia Morper-Busch (Department of Remote Sensing, Wuerzburg University, Germany)
Prof. Dr. Janay Sagintaev (School of Engineering, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan)
Dr. Lars Gerlitz (Hydrology Section, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Germany)
Dr. Tomas Saks (Glaciology Group, Fribourg University, Switzerland)
Zhandos Kerimkulov (School of Engineering, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan)
Dr. Abror Gafurov (Hydrology Section, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Germany)

Other Members

Dr. Barbara Janusz-Pawletta (UNESCO Chair on Water Resources Management in Central Asia at the German-Kazakh University, Kazakhstan)
Almas Kitapbayev (CAWA project coordinator at the German Kazakh University, Kazakhstan)

Table: Tools and Software Learned during summer school

Topic	Tool/Software learned
GIS and Spatial Analysis Tools-Part 1	Coordinate systems, digitization and geo-referencing, interpolation, raster tools (distance measures and raster algebra), digital elevation models (DEM)
GIS and Spatial Analysis Tools-Part 2 and Remote sensing-Part 1	Land suitability analysis, introduction to remote sensing and image processing
Remote sensing-Part 2	Remote sensing image classification, land and water use indicators
Remote sensing applications: Introduction to PCI Geomatics-Part 1	Introduction to Geomatics and Ortho-rectification of satellite images
Remote sensing applications: Introduction to PCI Geomatics-Part 2	Automatic and manual creation of digital image mosaics
Remote sensing applications: Introduction to PCI Geomatics-Part 3	From aerial and satellite images to DTM and DEM, Automation of production processes
Introduction to glaciology	Methods to assess glacier mass balances
Introduction to R and climatological analysis-Part 1	Rstudio, Analysis of climate station data using R
Introduction to climatological analysis-Part 2	Analysis of gridded climate data sets using R and linear statistical models

Project Title

The project title/name on which the summer school was organized is “Satellite Enhanced Snowmelt Flood and Drought Predictions for the Kabul River Basin (KRB) with Surface and Ground Water Modeling”.

Project Subgroups

Following sub-groups are formed under the above mentioned project:

Web Geoportal, Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
Snow Glacier
Hydro Meteorological Modeling
Hydrological modeling
Hydraulic Modeling
Underground Water Modeling
Integrated Water Modeling

Joint Collaboration with National and International Team Members

In each subgroup which are mentioned above, the joint collaboration and working is anticipated with national and international team members. The names of all the team members for each subgroup are mentioned below:

Subgroup: Web-Geoportal RS and GIS

Subproject Leader
Mr. Zhandos Kerimkulov
Upper Chitral River Sub Basin Leader: Rabbia Murtaza
National Team Members	International Team Members
Dr. Muhammad Abid Mr. Maqbool Ahmed Dr. Toqeer Ahmed	Zarylbek Rakhmatilla Jakhongir Babadjanov Namoz Davliatov Nabi Nabiyev

Subgroup: Snow Glacier

Subproject Leader
Jamal Abdul Nasir Shokory
Upper Chitral River Sub Basin Leader: Maqbool Ahmed
National Team Members	International Team Members
Dr. Muhammad Abid Mr. Maqbool Ahmed Dr. Toqeer Ahmed Dr. Shahina Tariq Mr. Muhammad Zahir Mr. Alamgeer Hussain	Xalimjon Mamirov Ruslan Kenzhebaev Namoz Devliatov Zhanara Zhanabayeva Umida Solieva

Subgroup: Hydrological Modeling

Subproject Leader
Alamgeer Hussain
Upper Chitral River Sub Basin Leader: Alamgeer Hussain
National Team Members	International Team Members
Dr. Muhammad Abid Mr. Maqbool Ahmed Dr. Toqeer Ahmed Dr. Shahina Tariq Mr. Fahad Bashir Mr. Alamgeer Hussain	Uktam Adkhamov Zarylbek Rakhmatilla Gulden Ormanova Namoz Devliatov Azamat Baimaganbetov

Subgroup: Underground Water Modeling

Subproject Leader
Muhammad Daud Hamidi
Upper Chitral River Sub Basin Leader: Muhammad Zahir
National Team Members	International Team Members
Dr. Muhammad Abid Mr. Maqbool Ahmed Dr. Toqeer Ahmed Dr. Shahina Tariq Mr. Muhammad Zahir	Zarylbek Rakhmatilla Namoz Devliatov

Excursion in Almaty

On 11 June 2017, a trip was arranged by the summer school organizers to Kok-Tobe Mountains. Some of the pictures from the excursion are shared below:

Expo Astana, 2017

On 17 June 2017, all summer school participants had a visit in Expo Astana 2017. Specialized Expo 2017 opened on 10 June in Astana, the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Expo, which is taking place on a site covering 25 hectares is opened for the public until 10 September 2017. Kazakhstan was elected by BIE Member States as the host of Expo 2017 during the General Assembly of 22 November 2012, and Expo 2017 Astana was formally recognized by the General Assembly on 11 June 2014. Expo 2017 is being organized under the theme ‘Future Energy’. This, along with the three subthemes – Reducing CO₂ Emissions, Living Energy Efficiency, and Energy for All – allow the Expo to present the state of energy today and to showcase sustainable solutions and innovative technologies. Expo 2017 organizers expect over 5 million visits during 93 days. Some pictures from Expo Astana 2017 are shared below:

Excursion to ABC Techno Park and Geodesy Polygon at Nazarbayev University

On 17 June 2017, the summer school participants, visited the Geodesy polygon and Techno park at Nazarbayev University. Geodesy deals with the representation and measurement of the earth including its gravitational field, in a 3D time varying space. The practical demonstration of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) was completed at the geodesy polygon to provide autonomous geospatial positioning with global coverage. After that, the summer school participants visited the Techno park at Nazarbayev University. The ABC Quick Start Acceleration Program for beginning startup companies was launched at this Techno park. It is an innovation platform and accelerator for projects with high market potential. Currently, Astana Business Campus already renders a number of commercial services to outside companies, and offers a range of activities to support projects and high quality services to its residents. Recognized world-class experts in biomedicine, robotics, IT, energy, and cleantech fields are an additional advantage of the Acceleration Program within Nazarbayev University. The demonstration of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) could be seen in the pictures mentioned below:

Future Strategy

In order to achieve the project objectives timely and efficiently, a two way communication must be devised among the subproject members, project leaders and sub-leaders. Data sharing must be encouraged and promoted at every level. All the new ideas, problems and solutions should be addressed in group discussion sessions either on skype or emails. A solid piece of work of every subgroup must reach somewhere in the form of research publications or review articles.

Future Interests

Considering the common environmental problems of South and Central Asia, a multidisciplinary approach must be enhanced in future. More and more experts, scientists and young researchers have to play their roles by working collaboratively on water and land resources. Multiple environmental problems, air pollution and health impacts due to climate change must be lectured. Hence, a joint team from different Central and South Asian countries will be devised accordingly.