An inception meeting on “Citizen science based Hydrological monitoring practices for flood forecasting and early warning systems (EWSs)” was organized in Kathmandu on May 30, 2016. The meeting was a part of the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation- Regional Opportunity Fund (ESPA-ROF) project led by the Grantham Institute, Imperial College London in partnership with Practical Action Nepal, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) and the Society of Hydrologists and Meteorologists-Nepal (SOHAM-Nepal).
The main purpose of the meeting was to share and to discuss about current practices of flood forecasting and early warning systems (EWSs) in Nepal, low-cost sensors for participatory environmental monitoring, some results from ongoing Mountain-EVO project in Mustang and the role of citizen science practices in flood resilience programme of Nepal.
Dr. Wouter Buytaert and Dr. Bhopal Pandey from Imperial College were the key experts in the meeting. Local experts representing various institutions engaged in EWSs were also present in the meeting. On behalf of SOHAM-Nepal, Mr. Jagat Kumar Bhusal-Chairperson, Mr. Suman Kumar Regmi-Secretary General, Mr. Barun Poudel-Secretary, Mr. Binod Parajuli-Executive Member, Dr. Prem Sagar Chapagain-Senior Researcher and Mr. Santosh Regmi-Researcher, attended the programme. There were altogether four technical presentations during the technical session. On behalf of SOHAM-Nepal, Mr. Santosh Regmi also delivered a technical presentation on Participatory monitoring: Impact & Outcomes – A case study from Upper Kaligandi Basin, Mustang.
