COP27: "Mitigating Avalanche Risk in High Mountain Asia: Community-Led and Data-Driven Approaches"

16/11/2022 16/11/2022

Mountain communities are on the front line of climate change.  Already exposed to multiple natural and climate-related hazards, mountain areas are heating twice as fast as global averages.  The intensity and frequency of deadly natural hazards such as snow avalanche is expected to increase as a result. Yet despite this growing risk, mountain communities are too often overlooked in global climate policy debate and agenda-setting.   More attention, resources, and solutions are required to understand and advance mountain adaptation.

The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) has developed a successful model combining hazard mapping, weather monitoring, avalanche forecasting, and community participation to mitigate the growing threat of avalanches. We invite you to join a discussion on how these solutions can be adapted to other areas and explore policy implications for scaling up community-led adaptation and connecting scientific and community-based approaches.

Event Objectives:

• Spotlight the vulnerabilities and resilience of mountain communities who have some of the smallest environmental footprints yet cope with outsized climate impact
• Promote collaboration between international, regional, and global actors and across mountain communities

Event Speakers:

• Onno Ruhl, General Manager, AKAH
• Shodmon Hojibekov, Head of Emergency Management & M&E, AKAH
• Doug Chabot, AKAH Avalanche Consultant
• Dilshodbegim Khisravova, Community Emergency Response and Avalanche Protection Volunteer, Tajikistan
• Afgan Raza, Community Emergency Response and Weather Monitoring Volunteer, Pakistan
• Colonel Eronsho Ayubzoda, Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defense under the Government of Tajikistan