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Regional workshop on
Resilient Mountain Solutions
Kathmandu, Nepal
12 July 2022 to 15 July 2022
Concept note
There has been considerable progress in springshed-related research and interventions in the region. To address the issue of drying springs and evolving threats to water security across the ” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>HKH region, we have been implementing action research and pilots to support and strengthen the capacity of local and state actors and institutions for spring rejuvenation using a six-step methodology in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal. Along with spring rejuvenation activities, we also work to strengthen policies and programmes around springs and increase capacity for gender-responsive springshed management.
This workshop will bring together policy and decision makers, practitioners, academics, and development partners to identify good practices and opportunities for implementing and scaling gender-responsive springshed management in the HKH region. Discussions during the workshop will explore the scope for convergence, collaboration, and regional networking for scaling of springshed management. Participants from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan will together plan a way forward for collaborative springshed management in the HKH.
Springs have historically been the primary source of groundwater for many mountain communities across the HKH region. Springs are important for consumption and agricultural, economic, and cultural activities. They also contribute significantly to base flows in rivers, and the drying and loss of springs has consequences for the sustainability of Himalayan landscapes and river systems, ecosystems, and biodiversity.
Depleting groundwater resources and decreasing discharge/drying up of springs are emerging issues in the HKH region. It is estimated that nearly 50% of the springs in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) are drying up, affecting communities whose lives and livelihoods depend on spring water. Lack of scientific evidence, inadequate knowledge and skills of communities and institutions, lack of gender-responsive policies and governance systems, and lack of investments are some of the challenges and gaps that need to be addressed for advancing springshed management in the HKH.
To address the issue of drying springs and evolving threats to water security across the region, ICIMOD is collaborating with the Advanced Center for Water Resources Development and Management (ACWADAM), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, People’s Science Institute (PSI), and other government and non-government partners, to implement an initiative to advance scientific knowledge and evidence, strengthen capacity building, and develop a user-friendly decision support system for springshed management in the IHR. The initiative is part of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation’s (SDC) project on Strengthening State Strategies for Climate Action (SCA-Himalaya) in India.
The action research under the initiative is being implemented at four pilot locations in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Manipur. While the field implementation of this initiative is across the four pilot sites in the IHR, the learning will be used for scaling up spring rejuvenation at the regional level.
Day 1: Understanding achievements, challenges, and opportunities for springshed management in the HKH
Venue: ICIMOD headquarters
Moderators: Barsha Rani Gurung and Karishma Khadka (ICIMOD)
Time (NPT)
Session
Rapporteurs
08:45–09:15
Registration and tea
Rasmi Dangol, Mayaju Maharjan, Stantosh Paudel and Gunanidhi Pokhrel, ICIMOD
09:15–10:15
Inaugural session
Welcome rmarks – Pema Gyamtsho, Director General, ICIMOD (10 min)
Introduction to the ICIMOD Strategy (2023–2030) – Basanta Raj Shrestha, Director Strategic Cooperation, ICIMOD (15 min)
Setting the context and sharing objective of the workshop – Nand Kishor Agrawal, Programme Coordinator, Resilient Mountain Solutions (RMS), ICIMOD (10 min)
Remarks
Dipak Gyawali, Academician, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and distinguished fellow, Nepal Water Conservation Foundation (NWCF), Nepal (5 min)
Neena Grewal, Project Director and State Level Additional Chief Executive Officer, SLNA at Watershed Management Directorate, Government of Uttarakhand, India (5 min)
Lalit Jain, Director, Department of Environment, Science and Technology, Government of Himachal Pradesh, India (5 min)
Keynote speaker
Sindhu Prasad Dhungana, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Forests and Environment, Government of Nepal (5 min)
Kripa Shrestha and Erica Udas, ICIMOD
10:15–11:00
Introduction of all participants (1 min each)
11:00–11:15
Tea break and group photo
11:15–11:30
Strengthening climate change adaptation in himalayas (SCA-Himalayas): A project overview – Ridhima Sud, Team Leader, SCA-Himalayas, SDC India
Kripa Shrestha and Gunanidhi Pokhrel, ICIMOD
11:30–12:00
Background and overview of RMS Initiative and springshed initiative – Sabina Uprety and Sanjeev Bhuchar, ICIMOD
12:00–13:15
Lessons from four action research sites (Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Manipur) under the Springshed initiative
Spring water management in himalayan region: Pathway to HKH groundwater governance – Jayesh Desai, and Himanshu Kulkarni, ACWADAM
Participatory springshed management: Experiences from Uttarakhand (India), Debashish Sen, PSI
Participatory springshed management: experiences from Himachal Pradesh (India) – Rajesh Kumar, PSI and Narender Paul, CORD
Integrated springshed management- leveraging spring instrumentation and isotope hydrology in the Indian Himalayan Region – Sumit Sen, IITR
13:15–14:15
Lunch
14:15–15:30
Parallel group work
Six-step protocol – Madhav Dhakal, Kripa Shrestha, ICIMOD, and Kunal Upasani, ACWADAM
Gender and social inclusion – Gunanidhi Pokhrel, ICIMOD, Simran Sumbre, ACWADAM, and Dikshya Upadhyay, PSI
Monitoring and evaluation – Ghulam Mohammad Shah, Sabina Uprety, ICIMOD and Debashish Sen, PSI
Policy and regional networking – Sanjeev Bhuchar, ICIMOD, and Sukesh Bartarya, PSI
Knowledge management and communication – Barsha Rani Gurung, ICIMOD, Himanshu Kulkarni, ACWADAM, and Rajesh Kumar, PSI
Advancing science for springshed management – Erica Udas, Kiran Shakya, ICIMOD, Ipsita Roy, PSI, and Jayesh Desai, ACWADAM
Madhav Dhakal
Gunanidhi Pokhrel
Sabina Uprety
Sanjeev Bhuchar
Barsha Rani Gurung
Erica Udas
15:30–15:45
Tea break
15:45–17:15
Panel discussion
Achievements, challenges, and opportunities for springshed management
Panel 1
Neena Grewal, Project Director and State Level Additional Chief Executive Officer, SLNA at Watershed Management Directorate, Uttarakhand, India
Braja Kumar Singh, Deputy director, Directorate of Environment and Climate Change, Manipur, India
Susheel Chandra Acharya, Director General, Department of Water Resources and Irrigation, Nepal
Jambay, Lecturer, College of Natural Resources, Bhutan
Md. Motaleb Hossain Sarker, Director, Water Resource Management Division, Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), Bangladesh
Panel 2
Basu Kaushal, Forest Department, Himachal Pradesh, India
Suresh Chand Attri, Principle Scientific Officer, Department of Environment, Science, and Technology (DEST), India
Manohara Khadka, Country Representative, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Nepal
Moti Lal Rijal, Associate Professor, Central Department of Geology, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
Moderated by Himanshu Kulkarni, ACWADAM
Erica Udas and Santosh Paudel, ICIMOD
17:15–17:30
Reflections from Day 1 using mentimeter – Participants
Sabina Uprety and Gunanidhi Pokhrel
17:30–17:45
Briefing of day 2 programme and introduction to the field sites – Erica Udas and Madhav Dhakal, ICIMOD
Day 2: Improved understanding of achievements, success factors, challenges, and gaps and opportunities
Venue: Namobuddha Municipality, Kavrepalanchok District
Moderators: Erica Udas and Madhav Dhakal, ICIMOD, and CEAPRED
Day 3: Scope and areas of collaboration at regional and global levels for advancing springshed management
Moderators: Sabina Uprety and Rasmi Dangol, ICIMOD
08:45–09:00
Showcase Godavari Knowledge Park video
09:00–10:00
Group work on decision support system for springshed management – Kripa Shrestha, Kiran Shakya, ICIMOD and Jayesh Desai, ACWADAM
Santosh Paudel and
Gunanidhi Pokhrel, ICIMOD
10:00–10:15
Panel Discussion on: Breaking the Bias
Diksha Upadhyay, Civil Engineer, PSI, India
Simran Sumbre, Social Scientist, ACWADAM, India
Karishma Khadka, Springshed Management Associate, ICIMOD, Nepal
Karma Uden, Program officer, Tarayana Foundation, Bhutan
Thingreiphi Lungharwoshi, Executive Secretary, Mountain Indigenous Knowledge Centre, Uttarakhand, India
Moderated by Sanjeev Bhuchar and Kripa Shrestha, ICIMOD
11:00–12:15
Strengthen climate resilient land and watershed management for spring rejuvenation in the Himalayas – Action oriented research proving on and offsite benefits, Hanspeter Liniger, World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT), Switzerland
Identification and revitalization of water sources for sustainable water resources management of Chittagong Hill Tracts, Md. Motaleb Hossain Sarker, Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), Bangladesh
Forest ecosystem service approach: 11 step methodology from FES project Indo-German Biodiversity programme, Ritesh Sharma, GIZ, India
Mainstreaming springshed policy for groundwater in the HKH, Chiranjibi Bhattarai, Nepal Water Conservation Foundation (NWCF), Nepal
Karishma Khadka, and Santosh Paudel, ICIMOD
12:15–13:15
Regional networking for springshed management:
Inputs (purpose, good practices)
Discussions and way forward – Sanjeev Bhuchar, ICIMOD, and Himanshu Kulkarni, ACWADAM
Santosh Paudel, and Gunanidhi Pokhrel, ICIMOD
14:15–14:45
Monitoring, evaluation, and learning framework – Ghulam Mohammad Shah, ICIMOD
14:45–15:00
Refresher game – Barsha Rani Gurung, ICIMOD
15:00–15:30
Knowledge management, communication, and outreach – Barsha Rani Gurung, ICIMOD
15:45–17:00
Group work
Convergence with relevant government programmes resources, possible funding opportunities, and regional collaboration – Santosh Raj Pathak, ICIMOD
Kripa Shrestha, Barsha Rani Gurung, and Santosh Paudel, ICIMOD
17:00–17:15
Reflections from Day 3 – Participants
Santosh Paudel and Kripa Shrestha, ICIMOD
18:00–20:00
Reception dinner at Tukuche Restaurant , Lalitpur
Day 4: Action for collaboration and networking
Moderator: Kripa Shrestha and Madhav Dhakal, ICIMOD
9:00–9:15
Key highlights of the previous three days – Madhav Dhakal, ICIMOD
9:15–10:15
Springshed management for water security
Ridhima Sud, Team leader, SCA-Himalayas, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), India
Narayan Khawas, Technical specialist, NIRAS, Denmark
Praveena Shreedhar, Chief Science & Technology Officer, Frank Water, U.K.
Vaibhav Eknath Gosavi, Scientist, Center for Land and Water Resource Management, G.B.Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development, India
Moderated by Nand Kishor Agrawal, ICIMOD
10:15–10:30
10:30–11:00
Reflections from the participants
11:00–11:30
Way forward
Nand Kishor Agrawal, ICIMOD
Closing remarks
Pema Gyamtsho, Director General, ICIMOD
Vote of thanks
Karishma Khadka, ICIMOD
11:30–12:30
12:30–17:00
Visit to the ICIMOD Knowledge Park at Godavari
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The primary objective of this partners’ meeting is to reflect on the progress of and develop plans for an project ...
