HI-AWARE is one of four consortia of the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA). HI-AWARE aims to contribute to enhanced adaptive capacities and climate resilience of the poor and vulnerable women, men, and children living in the mountains and flood plains of the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra river basins through the development of robust evidence to inform people-centred and gender-inclusive climate change adaptation policies and practices for improving livelihoods.

HI-AWARE will:

• Generate scientific knowledge on the biophysical, socio-economic, gender, and governance conditions and drivers leading to vulnerability to climate change;
• Develop robust evidence to improve understanding of the potential of adaptation approaches and practices, with an explicit focus on gender and livelihoods;
• Develop stakeholder-driven adaptation pathways based on the up- and out-scaling of institutional and on-the-ground adaptation innovations;
• Promote the uptake of knowledge and adaptation practices at various scales by decision-makers and citizens; and
• Strengthening the interdisciplinary expertise of researchers, students, and related science-policy-stakeholder networks.

HI-AWARE will focus its activities in 12 sites, representing a range of climates, altitudes, hydro-meteorological conditions, rural-urban continuum, and socio-economic contexts in four study basins: the Indus, Upper Ganga, Gandaki and Teesta. It will conduct research in these sites, including modeling, scoping studies, action research, and randomized control trials. It will test promising adaptation measures in observatory labs at the sites for out-scaling and up-scaling. It will also conduct participatory monitoring and assessment of climate change impacts and adaptation practices to identify:

• Critical moments – times of the year when specific climate risks are highest and when specific adaptation interventions are most effective;
• Adaptation turning points – adaptation turning points – when current policies and management practices are no longer effective and alternative strategies have to be considered; and
• Adaptation pathways – sequences of policy actions that respond to adaptation turning points by addressing both short term responses to climate change and longer term planning.

FutureWater’s main tasks focus on biophysical drivers and conditions leading to vulnerability to climate change. Key tasks are to:

• Develop detailed mountain specific and basin scale climate change scenarios;
• Improve cryosphere-hydrological modeling to assess significant shifts in flow regimes with an aim to develop water demand and supply scenarios as well as improve and apply water-food impact models; and
• Better understand climate change impacts on extremes (heat, floods, drought),and quantify these extremes from climate models and subsequently impact models.

Related publications

• 2018 - Hydrology and Earth System SciencesWijngaard, R.R., H. Biemans, A.F. Lutz, A.B. Shrestha, P. Wester, W.W. Immerzeel. 2018. Climate change vs. socio-economic development: understanding the future South Asian water gap. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 22. 6297-6321.X

  Climate change vs. socio-economic development: understanding the future South Asian water gap

  Wijngaard, R.R., H. Biemans, A.F. Lutz, A.B. Shrestha, P. Wester, W.W. Immerzeel

• 2017 - PLOS ONEWijngaard, R.R., A.F. Lutz, S. Nepal, S. Khanal, S. Pradhananga, A.B. Shrestha, W.W. Immerzeel. 2017. Future changes in hydro-climatic extremes in the Upper Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra River basins. PLOS ONE 12(12): e0190224. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190224X

  Future changes in hydro-climatic extremes in the Upper Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra River basins

  Wijngaard, R.R., A.F. Lutz, S. Nepal, S. Khanal, S. Pradhananga, A.B. Shrestha, W.W. Immerzeel

• 2017 - NatureKraaijenbrink P.D.A, M.F.P. Bierkens, A.F. Lutz, W.W. Immerzeel. 2017. Impact of a 1.5 °C global temperature rise on Asia’s glaciers. Nature, 54, 257–260. doi: 10.1038/nature23878.X

  Impact of a global temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius on Asia’s glaciers

  Kraaijenbrink, P.D.A., M.F.P. Bierkens, A.F. Lutz, W.W. Immerzeel

• 2016 - Internship ReportVrolijk, F., A. Lutz, H. Biemans. 2016. Tailoring of climate information for the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra basins - Technical Report. Internship Report.X

  Tailoring of climate information for the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra basins – Technical Report

  Vrolijk, F., A. Lutz, H. Biemans

• 2016 - International Journal of ClimatologyLutz, A.F., H.W. ter Maat, H. Biemans, A.B. Shrestha, P. Wester, W.W. Immerzeel. 2016. Selecting representative climate models for climate change impact studies: an advanced envelope-based selection approach. International Journal of ClimatologyX

  Selecting representative climate models for climate change impact studies: an advanced envelope-based selection approach

  Lutz, A.F., H.W. ter Maat, H. Biemans, A.B. Shrestha, P. Wester, W.W. Immerzeel

• 2015 - FutureWater Report 146Lutz, A.F., W.W. Immerzeel. 2015. HI-AWARE Research Component 1. Reference Climate Dataset for the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra River Basins. FutureWater Report 146X

  HI-AWARE Research Component 1. Reference Climate Dataset for the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra River Basins.

  Lutz, A.F., W.W. Immerzeel

• 2015 - FutureWater Report 145Lutz, A.F., W.W. Immerzeel, H. Biemans, H. ter Maat, V. Veldore, A.B. Shrestha. 2015. HI-AWARE Research Component 1. Selection of Climate Models for Downscaling. FutureWater Report 145X

  HI-AWARE Research Component 1. Selection of Climate Models for Downscaling

  Lutz, A.F., W.W. Immerzeel, H. Biemans, H. ter Maat, V. Veldore, A.B. Shrestha