Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany
Ph.D. Hydrology and Water Resources Management, Master degree in Civil Engineering Fields of work • Integrated water resources management (IWRM), hydrology, hydraulics • Dams: Risk assessment of dams, dam safety and reservoir operation • River basin and flood control management • Assessments: Risk assessment of natural hazards, floods, droughts cross-cutting vulnerability assessments, effects of climate change • Modelling: hydrology, water allocation, hydraulics • Non-structural measures: Early warning systems, Forecasting of streamflow, Emergency Preparedness Plans, Real-time operation of water infrastructure, ecosystem-based measures • Capacity building for river basin committees, water authorities and operators • Strategic Development of Water Resources
Water has become a high priority in Kazakhstan, the 9th largest country in the world. The Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation of Kazakhstan has developed an action plan covering water security, flood and drought management, water efficiency, ecosystems, transboundary waters among others. UNDP supports the Ministry in the implementation of the plan and selected me as Technical Advisor to the Water Minister of Kazakhstan. My role is to deliver policy advice and technical support to the Ministry and UNDP country office. Digitalization, flood management and transboundary water managmeent are the most burning topics in the first phase. The initial assignment is for 12 month with the opportunity to expand. My first mission to the country just finished in May 2024. I look forward to continuing the work with the colleagues of UNDP and the Ministry.
MRC and GIZ are supporting a unique project in the Mekong Region: a transboundary Early Warning System (EWS) for parts of the Tonle Sap watershed, more precisly the 9C9T region. SYDRO Consult together with ICEM are implementing and deploying this EWS. The system will be embedded in the IT environment of the MRC Flood and Drought Centre in Phnom Penh. TALSIM is the river basin model which will provide regular updates on flood and drought based on ground observations and satellite rainfall estimates. The system runs under the Delft-FEWS framework and carries out all steps from data pre-processing, simulation to result post-processing.
After three years of research, the project TASK, funded by the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety Germany, is now ready for operational use. Reservoir operators and all those who are in need of a seasonal forecast for foresighted water management can now apply TASK in order to detect possible drought situations as early as possible. In doing so, results of TASK forecasts can be integrated into strategic decision-making processes to prepare for water deficits. TASK is an approach which combines forecasts from global weather models of NOAA and ECMWF with observations from ground stations to calculate hydro-meteorological indices. These indices are used to obtain robust tendencies of expected hydrologic conditions in the upcoming months. SYDRO is continously working on the TASK approach to enhance the lead time. The potential of the approach is huge and not limited to GErmany, considering the fact that the models of NOAA and ECMWF work better in tropical and sub-tropical regions.
UNDP Crisis Bureau hired me to carry out the Damage Assessment caused by Storm Daniel in Libya in September 2023, which caused hundreds of fatalities and displaced ten-tousands. The city of Derna is the most known location that was hit and partly washed away. Together with my colleague Fraz Ismail from SYDRO and with strong support from UNDP Libya, the damage assessment is conducted by collecting as much as information on the ground. The assessment forms the basis for the strategy to rebuilt and rehabilitate the water infrastructure. The assignment is expected to be finished by May 2024.
Tajikistan is prone to landslides, flash flood, mud flows. The situation will worsen with more extreme climate. As a consequence, Tajikistan is in need of Early Warning Systems. UNDP Tajikistan is tackling this problem and takes action to develop capacity for hydrological modelling as a key component for Earl Warning Systems. My role as consultant was to provide technical support, guidance and capacity building for national consultants and project partners for hydrological and multi hazard modelling in selected watersheds of the Korirnighan River Basin. Hydrological models were developed for two watersheds, calibrated and refinde in collaboration with local experts.