THE SMALL EARTH NEPAL

The Nepal National Water and Weather Week (NNWWW) 2016 was celebrated with a week long program starting from 17th March 2016 to 23rd March 2016. Some of the programs were also organized as pre-week and post-week activities as of the week.
On 17th March, cycle rally and walkathon were separately organized in the morning which was later conversed at Nepal Tourism Board, Brikutimandap and followed by formal inauguration ceremony, which was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Honorable Mr. Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister at Ministry of Energy. Previously, the cycle rally that was started from Jawalakhel to Nepal Tourism Board, coordinated by Cycle City Network, was inaugurated by Honorable Mr. Bishwendra Paswan, Ministry of Population and Environment (MoPE). Similarly, the walkathon from Bhadrakali to Nepal Tourism Board was inaugurated by Mr. Vijay Kumar Mallik, Secretary at MoPE. Various secretaries and country representatives of different organizations offered their presence as guests in the events.
On 18th March and 20th March, documentary show and talk program was organized at Tri Chandra College, Ghantaghar, Kathmandu. Different researchers, teachers and other professionals gave their valuable presentations on meteorology, snow and glaciers, application of GIS tools in river basin management and flood forecasting techniques, drought and thunderstorm. Two documentaries “Drought” and “Himalayan Meltdown” were shown to the students.
On 19th March as a blue for water campaign, a clean-up campaign was carried out at Bagmati River in front of Guheshwori temple and all the way up to Gaurighat. As a major event of NNWWW 2016, 7th National Symposium on Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Management of Groundwater Resources in Nepal was held on 20th March. The Chief Guest of the event was Er. Suresh Prakash Acharya, Secretary at Ministry of Water Supply and Sanitation. The inauguration session included remarks from guests representing different organizations. Following the inauguration session, there were three technical session with presentations by different researchers and professionals under different themes. The theme of Technical session I was “Impacts to Groundwater”, Technical session II was “Groundwater policy, regulation and governance, and the final technical session’s theme was in accordance to the theme of WWD 2016 “Water and Jobs”. There were total of 13 presentations.
Further, on 21st March, there were three programs occurring simultaneously. One was media interaction at Reporters club where Dr. Rishi Ram Sharma from DHM and Dr. Jagat Kumar Bhusal from SOHAM highlighted on different key issues environment like climate hazards and water resources. Another program was interaction with stakeholders on the topic “Women, Water and Jobs” which was led by WaterAid Nepal. The program consisted of women from different arenas, video documentary and panel discussions on how to integrate WASH and gender equality. The last program was an educational visit to wetland which was led by SEN with technical assistance from NTNC. The students from Thames International College and Mega College participated in the visit. Interactive activities were carried out to help students learn about wetlands, its significance and possible threats.
On 23rd March, three set of events were carried out at Hotel Himalaya. The first event was “National Workshop on Water for Livelihood: Science Policy and Practices”. The Guest of Honor was Mr. Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Energy and other dignitaries included reputed personalities from different organizations. All the guests delivered their valuable remarks during the inaugural session. Then, the session was followed by a technical session which was chaired by Er. Mahendra Bahadur Gurung, Vice Chair, NNWWW 2016 and Co-Chaired by Dr. Arun Bhakta Shrestha, Regional Program Manager, ICIMOD. Five papers were presented by professionals from different area and covering on the topic “Water for livelihood”. The second event was a national debate on “World Meteorological day on the theme: Hotter, Drier and Wetter: Face the Future”. The debate was chaired by Dr. Dwarika Nath Dhungel, Former Secretary of Government of Nepal. The panellists included personalities from academics, media, government and NGO. The final event was closing ceremony in which the chief guest was Honorable Mr. Bishwendra Paswan, Minister, MoPE. The chief guest distributed award to the winners of photography and video story competition and certificate of appreciation to the supporters of NNWWW 2016 for their contributions. The program was finally concluded by closing remarks from Mr. Dhana Bahadur Tamang, Chair, NNWWW 2016, Secretary, WECS.