Breaking the bottlenecks: Managing multi-hazard risks in the hydropower sector

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About the webinar

The Hydropower Transboundary Working Group under the Koshi Disaster Risk Reduction Knowledge Hub (KDKH) is organizing this webinar to highlight multi-hazard vulnerability and risk in the hydropower sector and impacts on projects using selected case studies. The webinar will also discuss the multi-hazard risk management approach in the hydropower sector and how it can be customized for Nepal and the Arun River basin.

Koshi Disaster Risk Reduction Knowledge Hub

The KDKH is a platform led and driven by its members to foster transboundary collaboration on disaster risk reduction and explore the interlinkages between science, policy, and practice. Its vision is to contribute to a resilient Koshi basin through better understanding and evidence-based decision making on transboundary water-related DRR. It is hosted by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), Nepal; the Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA), India; and, the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment (IMHE), Chinese Academy of Sciences; with secretariat support from ICIMOD.

Hydropower Transboundary Working Group

The Hydropower Transboundary Working Group is one of the eight transboundary working groups of the KDKH. This group is led by the Center for Water Resources Studies (CWRS), Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University.

The Group focuses on assessing multi-hazard vulnerability and risk in hydropower; identifying potential ways of enhancing the resilience of hydropower to changing climate; enhancing collaboration in terms of research, publishing, advocacy; and dissemination to promote the concept of resilient hydropower. The group also organizes webinars, capacity building, and knowledge co-creation and sharing activities on a regular basis.

Speaker

John M. Reynolds is the Managing Director of Reynolds International Ltd, UK. He is also a senior advisor to the World Bank on the Arun Valley Disaster Risk Management Roadmap Development Project, Nepal and has been a member of the Dam safety panel of experts for the upper Arun hydropower project in Nepal since 2019. Reynolds is also a member of the advisory board of the Glacier and Permafrost Hazards in Mountains (GAPHAZ), Standing Group of the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences (IACS), and the International Permafrost Association (IPA). Since 1980, he has been involved in projects related to glacial hazards for civil defence, climate change, and hydropower projects in Bhutan, Chile, India, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, and Tajikistan. Over the last six years, he has been developing methods for integrated geohazard assessments and disaster risk management especially for the hydropower sector. Reynolds holds a BSc in Geological Geophysics and a PhD in Glacio-geophysics.

Agenda

Facilitated by: Neera Shrestha Pradhan, Programme Coordinator – Koshi, River Basins and Cryosphere, KDKH Secretariat, ICIMOD