THE SMALL EARTH NEPAL

15 September 2012

The Small Earth Nepal (SEN), Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), Bangladesh and Global Change Impact Studies Centre (GCISC), Pakistan organized an inception workshop for a collaborative research project “Assessing the economic impact of climate change on agriculture, water resources and food security and adaptation measures using seasonal and medium range of forecasts” with representatives of regional partners and National organizations in Kathmandu, Nepal, on 15 September. The workshop’s objectives were to share and discuss a methodology and tentative work plan for the project which aims to assess the impact of climate change on water resources availability in the Ganges-the Brahmaputra and the Meghna (GBM) basin, and enhance and sustain the food security in three case study areas located in the GBM basin.

During the workshop, presentations and discussions were held on the methodology, work plan and state of the current knowledge. Dr. Madan Lall Shrestha, Co-PI of the project from SEN, Dr. Ramesh Ananda Vaidya, Senior Advisor (Water & Hazards), ICIMOD, Dr. Siddhi Ganesh Shrestha of Department of Agriculture, Nepal, and Dr. Rishi Ram Sharma, Director General, Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) Nepal delivered their presentations and speeches on different aspects of the research.. In the technical session under the chairmanship of Dr. Madan L Shrestha, Dr. Ahmadul Hassan fromCEGIS presented Inception Report and Mr. Dhraj Pradhananga of SEN provided presentation on weather forecast and project activities.  Dr. Dilip Gautam of Regional Integrated Multi Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) delivered presentation on forecast models and its applicability.

Mr. Krishna Gyawali, Secretary of Ministry of Environment Science and Technology (MoEST), Nepal graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Mr. Gyawali, in his speech, shared his experience on initiatives, programmes and projects at national and international level including under MoEST, Nepal. He also advised to explore and use these information for this study as well.

The program was wrapped up with stakeholder consultation and those feedbacks have been encompassed into the inception report. The first phase of the project ends in June 2012.