Mountains are the water towers of the world. They provide freshwater to half the world’s population for irrigation, industry, domestic use and hydropower. But mountains are also among the regions most sensitive to climate change. Inevitably mountain communities are the first faced with the task of adapting and mitigating to the various challenges such changes present.
World-wide glacier retreat is one of the most obvious and impressive manifestations of climate warming. On a regional scale, glaciers fluctuations may affect landscape, meltwater supply (reservoirs, irrigation), security of infrastructure and buildings (ice avalanches, outbursts of glacial lakes), and tourist industry (ski areas, attractiveness of alpine scenery). To counter this in the swiss alps, a study based on a 20 year weather data shows that the Morteratsch Glacier (Swiss Alps) can reglaciate and advance again using artificially produced summer snow produced just by gravity.
In the Himalayas, the Icestupa Artificial Glacier Technology (Rolex Award for Enterprises 2016 recipient) was pioneered to compensate for reduced runoff by reutilising unused winter meltwater for irrigation.
Such interventions can sustain the mountain regions as water towers of the world and also provide economical stability by strengthening agricultural production and tourism development.
News
Events
 | Webinar SDG 6 | Tuesday, 20. June 2017 to Tuesday, 27. June 2017 | |
| Watershed Management Seminar – Example Freibourg, CH | Tuesday, 27. June 2017 | Auditorium Joseph Deiss |
| Aguasan Networking Apéro | Thursday, 29. June 2017 | Schloss Spiez |
| Event on Water Risk at the G21 – Swisstainability Forum | Thursday, 29. June 2017 | Swiss Tech Convention Center EPFL, Lausanne |
| Save the Date: SWP Event on Groundwater | Sunday, 27. August 2017 | Stockholm City Conference Center |
| SWP Booth and Innovation Tent at the WWW | Sunday, 27. August 2017 to Friday, 01. September 2017 | Stockholm City Conference Center |
| Invitation: Swiss Reception at the World Water Week | Monday, 28. August 2017 | |
| Event at Swiss Booth in Stockholm | Thursday, 31. August 2017 | |
| Webinar: Introduction to Remote Sensing of Harmful Algal Blooms | Tuesday, 05. September 2017 to Tuesday, 26. September 2017 | |
| Discovery Days 2017 | Thursday, 07. September 2017 to Friday, 08. September 2017 | EAWAG |
| High Level Panel on Water & Peace | Thursday, 14. September 2017 | |
| MOOC: A Resilient Future: Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction | Friday, 15. September 2017 | |
| Invitation – 1st Asian International Water Week | Wednesday, 20. September 2017 to Saturday, 23. September 2017 | |
| Call for Application – European Youth Parliament for Water | Sunday, 01. October 2017 to Saturday, 07. October 2017 | |
| European Water Stewardship Conference | Wednesday, 04. October 2017 | |
| NSL Colloquium: Common Water – The Future of an Alpine Resource | Saturday, 21. October 2017 | ETH Zürich |
| International IWA Conference “S2small2017” | Sunday, 22. October 2017 to Thursday, 26. October 2017 | |
| Save the Date: SWP Learning Event | Thursday, 26. October 2017 | ETH Zürich |
| SWP Learning Event “Assessment of Surface and Groundwater” | Thursday, 26. October 2017 | NADEL |
| SWISS WATER INTEGRITY AWARD 2017 | Tuesday, 31. October 2017 | |
| E-Learning Course: Introduction to Water Diplomacy | Monday, 06. November 2017 to Sunday, 03. December 2017 | |
| SAVE THE DATE: SDG WATER EVENT | Wednesday, 08. November 2017 | |
| SDG Water Event | Wednesday, 08. November 2017 | Allresto |
| Vertiefungskurs: Sedimentmanagement in Fliessgewässern | Wednesday, 22. November 2017 | EAWAG Dübendorf |
| Regional Youth Meeting | Thursday, 23. November 2017 to Monday, 27. November 2017 | |
| Climate Change: The Clock is Ticking – Swiss Innovations and Engagement for Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation | Tuesday, 28. November 2017 | sanu future learning ag |
| Grey, green or hybrid? The Potential of nature-based solutions for DRR | Wednesday, 06. December 2017 to Thursday, 07. December 2017 | ABZ Spiez |
| Grey, Green or Hybrid? The Value of Nature-Based Solutions for DRR | Wednesday, 06. December 2017 to Friday, 08. December 2017 | |
| Geneva Water Hub – Water Talks No. 4 | Thursday, 01. February 2018 | |
| Journées Biennales des Géosciences et de l’Environnement | Monday, 12. February 2018 | |
| Youth and Water II | Thursday, 15. February 2018 | |
| Save the Date: SWP Info Event on the SWP-Financing Facility | Friday, 02. March 2018 | HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation, |
| Youth and Water I | Friday, 16. March 2018 to Friday, 23. March 2018 | |
| Call for Application “ReSource Award” 2019 (Swiss Re Foundation) | Friday, 16. March 2018 | |
| Call for Participation: Swiss Booth at World Water Forum 2018 | Sunday, 18. March 2018 to Friday, 23. March 2018 | |
| SWP Member Workshop for World Water Day | Thursday, 22. March 2018 | Caritas Switzerland |
| Call for Application: SWEP Communication Coordinator | Monday, 26. March 2018 | |
| Innovate for Water | Nairobi, Kenya | Thursday, 26. April 2018 to Friday, 27. April 2018 | |
| Apply for the Cewas Start-Up Programme 2018 | Monday, 30. April 2018 | |
| SWP General Assembly 2018 | Tuesday, 29. May 2018 | |
| Clean Water and Sanitation – related SDG’s and rights in Kenya | Monday, 11. June 2018 | |
| Aguasan Workshop | Monday, 25. June 2018 to Friday, 29. June 2018 | |
| Tech4Dev 2018 International Conference | Wednesday, 27. June 2018 to Friday, 29. June 2018 | Swiss Tech Convention Center EPFL, Lausanne |
| Call for Papers: Tech4Dev 2018 | Wednesday, 27. June 2018 to Friday, 29. June 2018 | |
| Save the Date: Tech4Dev 2018 – Voices of the Global South | Wednesday, 27. June 2018 to Friday, 29. June 2018 | |
| Tech4Development: Early bird registration extended! | Wednesday, 27. June 2018 to Friday, 29. June 2018 | SwissTech Convention Center |
| Swiss Events at Stockholm World Water Week | Saturday, 25. August 2018 to Friday, 31. August 2018 | |
| Book a Slot at the Swiss Booth! | Sunday, 26. August 2018 to Friday, 31. August 2018 | Stockholm City Conference Center |
| SWP Learning Event “Assessment of Surface and Groundwater” | Thursday, 06. September 2018 | NADEL |
| Deadline Extended! SWP Learning Event “Surface and Ground Water” | Wednesday, 05. September 2018 to Thursday, 06. September 2018 | NADEL |
| Special Seminar: Water, sanitation, and hygiene in international humanitarian response | Prof. Daniele Lantagne | Wednesday, 19. September 2018 to Thursday, 20. September 2018 | Forum Chriesbach C20, Eawag Dübendorf |
| LEARNING EVENT: DRR and water – from local infrastructure to the watershed level | Thursday, 25. October 2018 | |
| Innovate4Water Abuja | Waterpreneurs | Monday, 26. November 2018 to Wednesday, 28. November 2018 | |
| F2F Event “Facing Climate Change” | Wednesday, 28. November 2018 | |
| Seminar on Transboundary Water Governance | Wednesday, 28. November 2018 to Thursday, 29. November 2018 | |
| Innovate for Water – Kisumu | Wednesday, 06. February 2019 to Thursday, 07. February 2019 | |
| Call for Abstracts: 1st World Summit on Leave no One Behind | Wednesday, 06. February 2019 to Friday, 08. February 2019 | |
| International Climate Show | Lausanne | Wednesday, 13. February 2019 to Thursday, 14. February 2019 | |
| Geneva Water Hub | Lunch Discussion | Monday, 18. March 2019 | |
| Launch of the AWS Standard 2.0 | Thursday, 21. March 2019 to Friday, 22. March 2019 | |
| Global Water Summit | London | Monday, 08. April 2019 to Wednesday, 10. April 2019 | |
| Water Talks Series “Exploring Dam Politics: Rivalries, Power and Hope” | Thursday, 25. April 2019 | |
| Matchmaking Event: WATER SUPPLY PROJECT ANGOLA | Tuesday, 30. April 2019 | |
| 35. Aguasan Workshop | Call for Applications | Sunday, 12. May 2019 to Friday, 17. May 2019 | |
| SWP General Assembly 2019 | Wednesday, 12. June 2019 | |
| Exchange of experiences on WASH | Forum of the “Federation Vaudoise Cooperation” | Thursday, 26. September 2019 | |
| Ohne Wasser kein Leben! | Saturday, 26. October 2019 to Sunday, 24. November 2019 | |
| SWP at Geneva Peace Week 4.-8. Nov 2019 | Thursday, 07. November 2019 | Room VIII, Palais des Nations |
| Exploring the Potential of Nature-based Solutions for Sustainable Development | Thursday, 21. November 2019 | Berner Bildungszentrum Pflege |
| Climate Show 26th November 2019 | Sierre, Valais | Tuesday, 26. November 2019 | Aqua4D |
| Roundtale on Water Conflicts | Geneva Water Hub | Tuesday, 03. December 2019 | Geneva Water Hub |
Thematic expertise
Geographic expertise
Contact Person
Dr. M. Luetscher - marc.luetscher@isska.ch
Projects
Documents
English
 | 2016 Annual Report [pdf - 7.87 MB] | |
| Global Programme Water – Portfolio 2017 [pdf - 15.62 MB] | This document describes the Portfolio for 2017 of the Global Programme Water. The endeavours of the Global Programme Water meet key global challenges related to the management of water resources, including access to drinking water and the productive use of water in agriculture, [...] |
| Global Programme Water – Strategy 2017-2020 [pdf - 1.84 MB] | This document describes the new Strategy 2017-2020 defined by the Global Programme Water. The Global Programme Water (GPW) is a catalyst promoting policy changes and the implementation of innovative solutions. It is a bridge builder, positioning water and sanitation on the international [...] |
| SWP Statutes 2016 [pdf - 514.33 KB] |