Climate services for areas of special significance

CLIMATE SERVICES FOR AREAS OF SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE

The topographic and environmental variations in Armenia create areas of particular importance in terms of their roles, and sensitivity to the availability and quality of hydrometeorological information required for their sustainable management, development and use.

High mountains occupy large part of Armenian territory, yet today they are only served by six weather stations. Even though elevations of 2,500–3,000 metres above the sea level comprise about 13 per cent of Armenia and supply meltwater from accumulated snow to reservoirs in spring, these areas have no observations at all. Agricultural production is gradually forced upwards due to climate change, and especially at elevations above 2,000 metres meteorological stations are increasingly needed to support crop cultivation, e.g., in vineyards and stonefruit gardens.

In2019,theWMOHighMountainSummit10 committed to the goal that people living in mountains shall have open access to and use of fit-for-purpose hydrological, meteorological and climate information services that address their needs to adapt to and manage the threats caused by climate change. The Summit announced an Integrated High-mountain Observation, Prediction and Services Initiative with user-centred goals with international coordination and multidisciplinary approaches. The initiative will consist of a series of collective, intensive campaigns of analysis and forecasting demonstration projects in key mountain ranges and headwaters around the world, including those with transboundary foci, and will make it possible to co-design solutions, build capacity, and support and facilitate investments by actively engaging users, providers and producers of information to address the most pressing issues in mountain regions and downstream. It is highly sensible for Armenia to take active part in this initiative.

Sevan, the largest lake in the southern Caucasus and one of the great freshwater high mountain lakes of Eurasia, is an Armenian natural and cultural treasure. Among its many qualities, Lake Sevan is essential to the Armenian economy and Armenian nature, providing water for the croplands of the Ararat Valley as well as for hydropower, recreation and tourism, and supporting rich biological diversity. The water volume and surface area of Lake Sevan have varied significantly over the past century, and the ecosystem faces pressure from water withdrawals, hydropower and mining in the basin, pollution by municipal wastewater and small industries and extensive agricultural activities (both, crop production and livestock). Climate change is adding stress through increasing air temperature and evaporation and reducing streamflow in the basin.11 With continuing water pollution, lake eutrophication is likely to intensify, with toxic algae blooms increasing risks for fish and the safety of lake-dependent water supplies.

The lake’s strategic and socioeconomic importance underscores the need to continue integrated studies and modelling of the lake ecosystem. This work can inform proper lake management under climate change, the revision of management targets and the restoration of the lake’s ecological balance. The NFCS should also target improvements in the hydrometeorological information base for such modelling and assessment (for instance, direct management of evaporation, automated monitoring of water quality, assessment of groundwater flows), and ensure straightforward access to the resulting data.12

10 https://highmountainsummit.wmo.int 11 See projections of water balance for Lake Sevan in Republic of Armenia, Ministry of Environment. Fourth National Communication on Climate Change under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Yerevan, 2020. 12 For instance, through the SEIS-Sevan portal http://seis-sevan.am