Mr Jagat Kumar Bhusal, Chairperson, SOHAM Nepal attended the programme “DFID CRISSA Regional Consultation : Towards Greater Coordination among Climate Researchers and Policy Makers in South Asia”, which was held on 7-8 April, 2016 in New Delhi, India. Mr. Bhusal was invited as a panel expert in the programme.

The speakers at the event included leading experts in climate science, research and policy from Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India as well as bilateral institutions working on climate action in the region. Academic experts from international institutions were also among the presenters at the event.

The purpose of the event is to present the key policy relevant messages from these studies to a group of academics and policy-makers drawn from the South Asian region. While each of the research projects have generated technical reports and peer reviewed journal articles accessible to a technical audience, this event will attempt to reach out to decision-makers who are in a position to use these findings for enhancing the evidence base for decisions they need to make.

DFID’s South Asia Research Hub funded a suite of research studies on key climate challenges between 2010 and 2015 under its Climate Research and Information Services in South Asia (CRISSA) programme.

Nepal National Water and Weather Week (NNWWW)-2016 

SOHAM-Nepal is celebrating World Water Day and World Meteorological Day 2016 under Nepal National Water and Weather Week (NNWWW)-2016. This is a joint effort of SOHAM-Nepal with Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM), Government of Nepal (National Hydrological and Meteorological Service); Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS), Government of Nepal; Central Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (CDHM)/ Department of Meteorology (DOM), Tri-chandra College, Tribhuvan University; Student Organization of Meteorology (SOM), Tri-chandra College; The small Earth Nepal (SEN) and other stakeholders. Altogether there are 22 stakeholders are working together in a single platform to mark the even a grand success. The small Earth Nepal (SEN) is the Secretariat for the week long event. Some of the events that SOHAM  involved directly is listed here.

March 15

• Mr. Jagat Kumar Bhusal, Chairperson and Mr. Suman Kumar Regmi, Secretary General attended press meeting to commemorate World Water Day (WWD) and World Meteorological Day (WMD) under Nepal National Water and Weather Week (NNWWW)-2016 at Water and Energy Commission Secretariat, Singha Durbar, Kathmandu. High officials from Department of Hydrology and Meteorology and Water and Energy Commission Secretariat also highlighted on week long programme.

March 17

• WALAKATHON programme was organized by Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Government of Nepal; SOHAM-Nepal; Central Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (CDHM)/ Department of Meteorology (DOM), Tri-chandra College, Tribhuvan University; Student Organization of Meteorology (SOM), Tri-chandra College. The programme was inaugurated by Mr. Vijaya Kumar Mallik, Secretary, Ministry of Population and Environment. Mr. Keshab Dhoj Adhikari, Officiating Secretary, Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS),  Dr. Rishi Ram Sharma, Director General of Department of Hydrology and Meteorology joined the programme. Altogether 85 participants from SOHAM Nepal members, staffs from Department of Hydrology and Meteorology,  Academician/B.Sc and M.Sc Meteorology students from Tribhuvan University actively participated the programme. The WALKATHON was started from Bhadrakali Temple at 7:45 AM and moved to the Shahidgate-Sundhara- RB Complex-Bhugol park-New Road Gate-Ratnpark-Nepal Electricity Authority- Nepal Tourism Board. The mass entered Nepal Tourism Board at 8:30 AM.

• Bicycle Rally was also organized simultaneously under  Nepal National Water and Weather Week (NNWWW)-2016. Honorable Bishwendra Paswan, Minister of Population and Environment inaugurated the function. He also actively participated in the bicycle rally. The bicycle rally programme was held by The Small Earth Nepal (SEN) with support from Cycle city Network, Nepal.

• Formal Inauguration of Nepal National Water and Weather Week (NNWWW)-2016 was held at Nepal Tourism Board Hall during 9-11 AM. Mr. Keshab Dhoj Adhikari, Officiating Secretary, Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) was  the chairperson of the programme. Honorable Top Bhadaur Rayamajhi,  Deputy Prime minister and  minister for Ministry of Energy was the chief guest of the porgramme whereas Honorable Bishwendra Paswan, Minister of Population and Environment was special guest of the inauguration programme. Secretaries, Director Generals, and other distinguished officials from various Government and non-governmental organization, Academician and students from Tribhuvan University attended the programme. Honourable Top Bhadaur Rayamajhi,  Deputy Prime minister and minister for Ministry of Energy inaugurated Nepal National Water and Weather Week (NNWWW)-2016 by watering the plant.  Various speakers including ministers also delivered speeches.

March 18, 20

• Students’ Organization of Meteorology (SOM) with support from SOHAM Nepal and other stakeholders, celebrated World Water Day (WWD) and World Meteorological Day (WMD) at Tri-Chandra College, Ghantaghar on March 18 and 20. The programme was followed by the Inaugural session on the first day. The inaugural session was chaired by Mr. Narayan Gautam, Head of Department, Tri-chandra College, Ghantaghar. Prof. Suresh Raj Chalise was the chief guest of the programme. Dr. Janak Lal Nayava, Adviser and former Chairperson of SOHAM Nepal, Mr. Suman Kumar Regmi, Secretary General, SOHAM Nepal and other distinguished guests were also present during the occasion.  Prof. Suresh Raj Chalise was honoured  with a token of love.  He also delivered an inaugural speech. The programme comprised series of talk programmes and documentary shows during two days (March 18 and March 20).

List of Talk programmes

1. ‘Basic knowledge of meteorology and issues related to presentation, snow and glaciers in Nepal’  by Prof. Tek Bhadur Chettri, CDHM
2. ‘Instrumentation’ by Mr. Sujan Koirala,DHM
3. ‘GIS’ by Mr. Bikash Nepal, DHM
4. ‘River Systems and flood introduced disaster in Nepal’ by Mr. Narayan Gautam, DOM
5. Forecasting Techniques’ by Ms. Shanti Kandel, DHM
6. ‘Drought and Nepal’ by Dr. Hemu Kharel Kafle, NAST
7. ‘Thunderstorm’ by  Ms. Manju Basi, DHM

List of Documentary Show

1. Himalayan Meltdown (Contributed by SEN and prepared by ICIMOD and Discovery Channels)
2. Drought (Contributed by ICIMOD)

March 21

• A Media Interaction programme was held at Reporters Club, Kathmandu. Dr. Rishi Ram Sharma, Director General of Department of Hydrology and Meteorology  and Mr. Jagat Kumar Bhusal, Chairperson, SOHAM Nepal (also Electricity Tariff Fixation Commission, Government of Nepal) was the key speakers. Dr. Sharma highlighted the issues related to climate, weather, flood and current ongoing DHM activities with further challenges whereas Mr. Bhusal also discussed on the issues related with water resources and its potential for hydro-power generation. High officials from Department of Hydrology and Meteorology /SOHAM Nepal were also present during the occasion.

March 23

• A whole day programme was held at Hotel Himalaya as a final programme as well as closing week long programme.
• On the first half of the day, National Workshop on Water for Livelihood, Science, Policy and Practices was held. The programme was chaired by Mr. Dhan Bahadur Tamang, Secretary, Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) and Chairperson of Nepal National Water and Weather Week (NNWWW)-2016. High officials from various government and non-government were the guest of the programme. Five papers were also presented by professionals during technical session. The technical session chair and vice-chair were Mr. Mahendra Bahadur Gurung and Dr. Arun Bhakta Shrestha respectively.
• On the second half of the day, programme on National Debate was held focusing the World Meteorological Day theme “Hotter, Drier and Wetter: Face the future”. Dr. Rishi Ram Sharma, Director General, Department of Hydrology and Meteorology delivered a technical presentation. Technical session was chaired by Mr. Jagat Kumar Bhusal, Chairperson, SOHAM Nepal. A National debate on Climate Change and water resources was also held among the distinguished personalities. Dr. Dwarika Nath Dhungel, Former Secretary, Government of Nepal was the chairperson of the National debate. The panelist involved in the session were: Prof. Dr. Ramesh Maskey, Kathmandu University, Dr. Subarna Shrestha, Dr. Rishi Ram Sharma, Mr. Jagat Kumar Bhusal and Mr. Tirtha koirala, Senior Media person.
• Formal closing of the Nepal National Water and Weather Week (NNWWW)-2016 was held at the end of the day. Honorable Bishwendra Paswan, Minister of Population and Environment was the chief guest of the closing session. Secretaries, Director Generals, and other distinguished officials from various Government and non-governmental organization, Academician and students from Tribhuvan University attended the programme. Various speakers including minister also delivered speeches.
• Honorable Bishwendra Paswan, Minister of Population and Environment announced to establish a fund for Hydrology and Meteorology activities by contributing NPR 1, 50,000/- (One lakh and fifty thousands Nepali Rupees). Similarly, Dr. Rishi Ram Sharma, Director General, Department of Hydrology, also declared to deposit the amount NPR 1, 00, 000/- (One lakh Nepali Rupees) in the fund.

On behalf of Mountain EVO project, Mr. Jagat Kumar Bhusal, Chairperson, Mr. Suman Kumar Regmi, Secretary General, Dr. Prem Sagar Chapagain, Senior Researcher, Mr. Jeevan Gyanwali, Planning Officer, District Development Committee (DDC) Mustang, Government of Nepal, Dr. Timothy Karpouzoglou, wageningen university attended Building Impact and Partnerships in South Asia Conference Workshop organized by ESPA (Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation) during 9-10 March, 2016 in New Delhi, India .

The event was highly interactive and focused around sharing lessons and strategies and building partnerships between participants mostly engaged in the South Asia.

This event was an opportunity to formally launch the new Impact Strategy document to raise awareness of the programme’s renewed focus on impact, to clarify how the new strategy document supersedes earlier strategy documentation, and develop a shared understanding around the impact agenda ensuring conceptual clarity.

Also, it provide an opportunity for project participants to discuss their own strategies and objectives around impact and to develop their own impact pathways. It will also provide an opportunity to bring participants in contact with funders and research users in order to share perspectives and good practice.

The ESPA Directorate is responding to strong demand among the ESPA community for a unified strategy around impact and opportunities to share lessons and build influential partnerships across the region. The Impact team have undergone a revision of ESPA’s Impact Strategy, which is a critical component of the team’s ongoing work to enhance, assess and build impact across the programme.

SOHAM Nepal organized a talk programme on Land and water conflicts in lower Mustang; legal pluralism and conflict resolution by Mr. Mathijs Veenkant, Wageningen University, Netherlands on February 3, 2016 (2072/10/20 ), Wednesday in Kathmandu. The venu was lecture Hall, Nepal Tourism Board, Bhrikuti Mandap.

[Mr. Veenkant is a MSc student in water governance having a bachelor degree in Hydrology. He has just completed his research with the support from SOHAM Mountain EVO team]

We all are deeply saddened by the untimely demise of our life member, Mr. Sudeep Prasad Kayastha on January 8, 2016. He was a meteorologist by profession, a dedicated person, served to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM), Government of Nepal. SOHAM Nepal express our deep condolence to his family members, relatives and friends. May his soul attain eternal peace.

SOHAM Nepal organized a talk programme on Key findings of IPCC Mitigation Report in the context of COP21 outcomes by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shobhakar Dhakal, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand on January 6, 2016 (2072/09/22 ), Wednesday in Kathmandu. The venu was lecture Hall, Nepal Tourism Board, Bhrikuti Mandap.

[Dr. Dhakal is currently serving as one of the Coordinating Lead Authors of the Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC for the Group III dealing with the human settlements and the climate change mitigation. He was Executive Director of the Global Carbon Project, an international scientific program hosted by the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) in Japan (2006-2012) and a Senior Policy Researcher and the Project Manager of Urban Project of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) Japan (2001-2006). He is also a visiting Associate Professor to Graduate School of Environmental Studies of Nagoya University in Japan and a Guest Research Scholar to International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria since 2009. His areas of specializations are quantification and modeling of the direct and indirect energy and carbon emissions, low energy-carbon city scenarios, and climate-mitigation related policy analyses and cross-comparative case studies.]

National Symposium on Hydrology and Meteorology-2015 was organized by Society of Hydrologists and Meteorologists (SOHAM-Nepal) with support from Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM), Government of Nepal, UNESCO International Hydrological programme  (IHP) Nepal and International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) on December 24, 2015 in Kathmandu.

The programme was inaugurated by Prof. Dr. Jibaraj Pokhrel, Vice-Chancellor, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST). In the inauguration session, Mr. Suman Kumar Regmi, Secretary General, SOHAM- Nepal delivered welcome speech. On the occasion, Dr. Rishi Ram Sharma, Director General, Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Dr. Laxmi Prasad Devkota, UNESCO International Hydrological programme  (IHP) Nepal, and Dr. Mandira Shrestha, representative from International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) highlighted the importance of hydrology and Meteorology and role of youth to carry out research activities. The programme was chaired by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rijan Bhakta Kayastha, Vice Chariperson, SOHAM Nepal, and also gave closing remark for inaugural session.

The technical session was followed by inauguration session. The technical session was divided mainly into three groups: Hydrology, Meteorology and Glaciology. At first, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shreedhar Maskey delivered plenary lecture. There were altogether 16 oral presentations and 5 poster presentations. The technical session was chaired by Mr. Kiran Shankar Yogacharya, Dr. Madan Lall Shrestha and Mr. Om Ratna Bajracharya for Hydrology, Meteorology and Glaciology sessions respectively.

At the end, Mr. Barun Poudel, Secretary, SOHAM Nepal, gave vote of thanks and also closed the programme. The programme was conducted in the lecture hall of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), Bhrikuti Mandap, Kathmandu.

SOHAM Nepal with support from Imperial College, UK organized Annual Mountain EVO meeting in Pokhara during November 17-19 , 2015.

The internal project meeting was held on November 17 and 18, 2015 in Pokhara. Eleven delegates from abroad and nine local experts engaged in the Mountain EVO project in Peru, Kirghistan, Ethiopia and Nepal case study along with Mountain EVO principle investigator Dr. Wouter  Joris  Lieven Buytaert actively participated in the meeting. The meeting offered an opportunity to interact/hold dialogues among all project partners. The meeting reviewed the Mountain EVO project activities implemented in Peru, Kirgizstan, Ethiopia and Nepal and also provided guidance on how to develop a better understanding of the ecosystem services using high quality and cutting edge data gathering techniques. The meeting  also discussed on how to use such new knowledge into local decision making process, so that the research can help in better management of ecosystems and may contribute to poverty alleviation.

A workshop was also organized in Pokhara on November 19, 2015. Eleven delegates from abroad, fourteen local experts representing the Mountain EVO Nepal case study team, co-partners and major stakeholders took part in the programme.

Field activities were also conducted in Jomsom prior to the meeting in Pokhara. All international delegates participated in the field activities during 14-16 November, 2015. Dr. Wouter and two delegates also visited the recently establish Chhoser Automatic Weather Station (AWS) under Mountain EVO project. A stakeholders meeting was also organized in Jomsom. Twenty six local participants representing  various government and non-governmental organizations took part in the programme.

SOHAM-Nepal with support from Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM), District Development Committee (DDC), Mustang, International Hydrological Programme-Nepal (IHP-Nepal) and lead by Imperial College, UK is implementing a three year’s project on “Adaptive Governance of Mountain Ecosystem services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) enabled by Environmental Virtual Observatories (Mountain EVO-Nepal)” in Nepal. Similar project is also implementing in Peru, Kirgizstan, and Ethiopia as well.