MILAN, Italy, May 7. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will support Azerbaijan with satellite technology for smarter water management, Yasmin Siddiqi, Director for Agriculture, Food, Nature, and Rural Development in Central and West Asia at the Asian Development Bank, said in response to Trend’s question during a briefing held as part of the 58th ADB Annual Meeting in Milan.
“In fact, at COP 29 last year, the Glaciers to Farms initiative was launched. We have done a glacier risk analysis. So this is looking at the actual river basin, the Kura River Basin, which is in Azerbaijan as well, and looking at the glaciers and the snow and the impacts of climate on the melting of the glaciers and the snow in the Kura River Basin, and what it will mean for Azerbaijan and its water resources. So this is a piece of work that our glacier scientists have recently completed,” she said.
Siddiqi noted that this Glaciers to Farms initiative is in partnership with the Green Climate Fund.
“And this will be its first regional initiative in Central Asia and the Caucasus region. So for us, it's a very important piece of work. ADB has a long history of working in Azerbaijan. Of course, the support we've provided to the government so far has been in a range of areas, including some of the infrastructure areas, but also with policy support and budgetary support. We're very excited that this will be the first initiative with the government of Azerbaijan in water resources and looking at irrigation systems, looking at river basin management,” she said.
Siddiqi recalled that she was in Azerbaijan in January this year, where she met with the State Water Resources Agency and discussed with them the possibility of certain projects that could be supported by the government and by the Green Climate Fund and ADB financing.
“So, just as an example, what the government is keen for ADB to support is to look at how we can improve water application at the farm level. In Azerbaijan, farmers manage small pieces of land. And the government has requested ADB to consider supporting how we can work with farmers so that they have larger pieces of land that could be more efficient and productive. And also looking at how we can introduce technology. For example, we have irrigation systems which are more efficient. They deliver water to the crop more efficiently.
The government is keen for ADB to bring in this type of technology. They would also like us to work with them on the strategy and policy in Azerbaijan on river basin management. Today, with satellite information and remote sensing data, we can actually do that without even measuring it on the ground. We can use satellite technology to help us with that. And that's exactly the type of information we want to bring to the government,” she concluded.