Accesible hydrological monitoring for better

decision making and modelling: a regional

initiative in the Andes

Bert De Bievre, Rolando Célleri, Patricio Crespo, Boris Ochoa,

Wouter Buytaert, Conrado Tobón, Marcos Villacís, Mauricio

Villazon, Carlos Llerena, Mayanín Rodriguez, Paul Viñas

AGU Meeting of the Americas, Cancún, May 14, 2013

History

• Research component of Proyecto Páramo Andino

• Quickly interest from several partners to extend beyondparamo to other Andean ecosystems

• Integrated in Climate Change Monitoring Program of the

Andean Community (SGCAN)

• Validated in II World Paramo Congress, Loja, Ecuador, 2009

• Workshop in Cuenca, Ecuador, to fine tune proposal, July 2010

Iniciativa Regional de Monitoreo Hidrológicode Ecosistemas Andinos – iMHEA

BIG knowledge gaps on Andean ecosystems

hydrology

• We don’t know many basic things on hydrological processesin Andean ecosystems, this is more evident when ClimateChange catches us being unprepared

• Many “water conservation” practices have not beenevaluated for their hydrological benefit

• Bad misunderstandings and mistakes because of lack of good information, e.g. on (re)forestation

• Efficiency of water conservation investment is low

• Lack of information for modellers

• More recently big efforts for glacier monitoring

Traditional hydrometeorological monitoring

• National scale

• Location in function of infrastructure presence (airports,hydropower, irrigation, …)

• Therefore huge gap in high altitude areas

• Processing of long time series, statistics, little attention forhydrological processes

What do we need then?

• Local information

• Monitoring of watersheds and ecosystems, effect of land useand vegetation cover

• Main focus on highlands: the “water sources”

• Information that allows to give some answers to burningquestions, and decision making on the short or mid term

Some burning questions that decision makers and

watershed managers have

• Short term (a few years)– How does land use change affect water yield and water

regulation?

– What kind of land use change?- Conversion of natural ecosystem to agricultural land- Livestock/overgrazing- Deforestation, Reforestation, Forestation, introduced vs native species

• Long term (10+ years)– Climate change: changes in rainfall AND hydrological response to it.

Principles guiding this proposal

• It is better to have simple hydrological monitoring at manysites than detailed monitoring on a few ones

• This will take us to regional conclusions and not leave biggaps

• Low complexity threshold, to make it accesible for manystakeholders

• Guarantee quality through followup from a technicalcoordination

• Not just identify the changes in hydrology, but provideinformation that improves management action efficiency

• Develop simple indicators that qualify the quality of thehydrological service

Proposal

• Minimum = Rainfall &Runoff

• 3 well distributed raingauges and an automaticdischarge gauging stationper microcatchment

• Paired catchment designwherever feasible,catchments differ in themost relevant land useregime

Propuesta de la Iniciativa MHEA

Paired catchments

Propuesta de la Iniciativa MHEA

• Monitoring that can give us policy-relevant conclusions in ashort monitoring period

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Precipitación Cuenca con pajonalCuenca con pinos

Buytaert, Iñiguez, De Bièvre, 2007, The effects of afforestation and cultivation on water yield in the Andean paramo, Forest Ecology and Management 251(1-2): 22-30

Regional initiative

• Implementation withlocal partners

• Share results incommon formats

• Organize interchangeof experience anddiscussion of results

• Link research groups

Current partners

• A dozen of local NGO’s, local governments, from Mérida(Venezuela), to Bolivia

• Universidad de los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela

• Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellin, Colombia

• Universidad de Cuenca, Cuenca, Ecuador

• Universidad Agraria La Molina, Lima, Peru

• Universidad Mayor San Simón, Cochabamba, Bolivia

• Imperial College, London

• Please tell us if you are interested to join!

Socios de la Iniciativa MHEA

Overgrazing in páramo ecosystems

in Piura?

Overgrazing in puna ecosystem at

the foot of Cordillera Blanca in

Huaraz?

Does reforestation with pines asociated

with infiltration ditches really help

hydrology in puna in Tambobamba –

Apurimac?

How does potato cultivation at

unprecedented altitudes impact

water regulation in puna in

Cochabamba, Bolivia?

Keys for success (so far …)

• Being able to combine local stakeholders’ information needs(key for sustainability), with more regional Andeanknowledge gaps and advancement of science

• Organizing technical backstopping to local partners,benefiting quality and information gaps

• Monitoring new technologies/sensor market

• Simple indicators – building discussion language amongparticipants with different backgrounds

mriMountain

research

initiative

London, 26 March 2012updated Rigi Kulm, 25 April 2013

A Global Fair and Workshop on

Long-Term Observing Systems of Mountain Social-Ecological Systems

What : A multi-day event bringing together researchers, managers and funders of mountain observatories, field stations, transects and observing networks that gather data on mountain social systems, on mountain ecosystems (from climate to genetics), on mountain abiotic environments or all of the above to

• describe their work • explain sensors and protocols (flagship stations, crowd-sourcing, etc.) • discuss data management, access and presentation • explore the questions and phenomena driving observations • visit exemplary transects and observatories • create new collaborations • formalize cooperative arrangements.

When : Summer 2014 (between July and September) Where: Reno, Nevada, USA (and surrounding Sierra Nevada, Cascade and Great Basin mountain ranges)