NEW DELHI - In a first, India seeks Pakistan and China collaboration to better gauge the impact of climate change on the Hindu Kush mountains, which includes the Himalayas, and spruce up data-gathering.
India Meteorological Department (IMD) will collaborate with meteorological agencies in China and Pakistan, among others, to provide climate forecast services to countries in the region. IMD organised a workshop to discuss ways to establish a regional climate centre that will provide forecasting services and climate analyses.
It will be under the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and take a few years to take shape, IMD Director-General M. Mohapatra said.
"The Hindu-Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region is considered the Third Pole [after the North and South Poles], and has significant implications for climate. However, data-gathering here is sparse.
We are discussing a system whereby countries can share data and improve forecasts and predictions. The WMO proposal was to have nodal centres in Islamabad, Delhi and Beijing," he said.