Lithuania Environmental
Protection Agency
United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe
Impacts of climate change
and
variability
on
transboundary basins are
evident in many regions in
the world and pose a
challenge
to
water
managers
around
the
globe. The project is aimed
at
strengthening
the
capacity of the countries
sharing the Neman River
to adapt to climate change
through
supporting
dialogue and cooperation
on the needed steps to
design
an
adaptation
strategy
in
the
transboundary context. It
aims to reach a common
understanding on future
water availability and water
use, taking into account
possible climate change
impacts.
Main goals of the project:

Assessment
and
forecast of water resources
runoff
under
different
climate change scenarios
and economic development
tendencies with regard to
the use of water resources
and industrial capacity for
the Neman River basin;

Proposals
for
common indicators of water
bodies status (ecological
and chemical), along with
respective criteria (values),
and
systems
for
classification
of
water
bodies’
state
and
parameters;

Improvement of the
integrated water resources
management using the
basin approach in the
climate change context;
River basin
management and
climate change
adaptation in the
Neman River basin
(2011 – 2014)
The project is one of the Pilot projects on climate change adaptation in transboundary
basins under the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary
Watercourses
and
International
Lakes
(Water
Convention)
(http://www.unece.org/env/water), partially implemented under the Environment
and Security initiative (ENVSEC www.envsec.org).
In the framework of the project the following results are expected to be achieved:
Current status assessment of the river basin’s water resources and the impact of
economic activities on these resources;
Local experts’ capacity is increased in adaptation to climate change;
Investigation,
estimation and forecasting the runoff of the river basin in the context of climate
change, taking into account different scenarios for water use, based on the results
of hydro economic balances and socioeconomic development;
Investigation and assessment of monitoring systems’ (hydrometeorological and
hydrochemical), analysis and assessment of the need to optimize these systems
for climate change monitoring (including extreme events);
Modeling climate change impacts for the river basin and elaboration of common
climate change scenarios;
Assessment of water quality and estimation of the future climate change impact on
water quality;
Transboundary cooperation is improved,
Elaboration of free access information platform (Internet database), containing
data on water resources management and adaptation to climate change for the
Niemen River basin countries.
Main stakeholders of the project - Ministry of natural resources and environmental
protection of the Republic of Belarus; Central Research Institute for Complex Use of
Water Resources; Vilnius University; Lithuanian Environmental Protection Agency;
Neva-Ladoga River Basin Management Board Federal Agency of water resources of
Russian Federation.

Enhancement
of
transboundary cooperation,
including improvement of
exchange of information
about water resources use
between Belarus, Lithuania
and Russia.
The project is funded by Sweden through the Environment and Security
Initiative (ENVSEC) as well as Finland
The Neman project has already achieved the following results until January 2014:

Assessment of the current status of the water
resources of the Niemen River basin (quantitative and
qualitative aspects); elaboration of climate change
scenarios and forecasting of runoff changes;

Pilot implementation of common Lithuanian and
Belarusian approach for assessment of water quality of
surface waters in the entire Neman River Basin taking into
account Lithuanian experience for selected list of water
quality monitoring stations (WQMS) and for selected list of
water quality parameters was in the first time implemented
for the whole Neman River Basin. Series of maps on
classification of surface waters quality for the whole Neman
river basin were developed;

Climate forecasting for the whole Neman River basin was done using CCLM model outputs
based on initial and boundary conditions of the Global Circulation Model ECHAM5/MPI-OM. Two
greenhouse gas emission scenarios were used: A1B (a relatively high emission scenario) and B1 (a
low-emission scenario);

Analysis of the meteorological, hydrological, hydrochemical and hydrobiological monitoring
systems in the Neman River Basin was conducted and proposals for meteorological and hydrological
systems optimization for climate change monitoring were developed;

A near-term forecast was made for 2020-2050 and runoff forecasting
was carried out using separate Belarusian and Lithuanian regional models
based on climate forecasting results;

Estimation and forecast of the future climate change impact on the
water quality at the highest generalization level was conducted;

Vulnerability assessment of expected impacts of climate change for
the Neman river basin has been made. The potential and possible
adaptation to climate change measures were developed;

The internet information database containing data on water
resources management has been developed. A pilot version of the database
is developed (http://www.cricuwr.by/neman/);

The first version of the strategic framework for basin-wide climate
change adaptation in the Neman River Basin was developed;

A field trip along the Neman river, including workshops in Hrodna and Druskininkai were
organized for discussion of the results of the project and follow up activities. 50 international and local
experts, representatives of regional authorities from Belarus, Lithuania and Russia took part in the
events;

Experts of the project participated in and
contributed to several meetings under the Water
Convention’s programme of pilot projects on climate
change adaptation in transboundary basins;

Two multi-stakeholder workshops were
organized on discussion of adaptation to climate
change in the Neman river basin in Minsk and in
Vilnius. 120 representatives of regional authorities,
water-related sectors, enterprises from Belarus and
Lithuania, national and international experts
participated in the workshops.
Contact information: UNECE
Sonja Koeppel, Manager of the project at UNECE
+41 22 917 1218, Email: Sonja.koeppel@unece.org
Contact information: UNDP Belarus
Igar Tchoulba, Programme Analyst
Tel. +375 (17) 227 48 76, E-mail: igar.tchoulba@undp.org
Iryna Usava, Project manager
Tel/fax: + 375 (17) 263 53 31, E-mail:
iryna.usava@undp.org