News Archive
Our biodiversity, our food, our health
30 Jul 2019
Agricultural biodiversity is essential to ensuring food security, nutrition, and human wellbeing. The diversity in crops and livestock seen today is the result of thousands of years of human intervention. Agrobiodiversity is integral to making farming systems more stable, prosperous, and sustainable.
READ MOREThird UIBN–AC meeting commits to strengthening research collaboration in the Upper Indus basin
30 Jul 2019
A science-based regional platform like the Upper Indus Basin Network (UIBN) can play an important role in helping understand present and future water availability, demand, and hazards and develop solutions for various stakeholders. It can also foster coordination among researchers working in the region to share their experiences, knowledge, and understanding to be able to effectively deal with the effects of climate change on the water resources and address upstream–downstream linkages.
READ MORETraining on hydrological modelling using JAMS/J2000 enhances Afghan expertise in hydrological dynamics and water availability assessment
30 Jul 2019
A training workshop on hydrological modelling using JAMS/J2000 was held from 25 October to 4 November 2018 in New Delhi, India, for professionals and academics from Afghanistan. It focused on hydrological processes and modelling and applying the J2000 hydrological model in the Panjshir catchment of the Kabul River sub-basin.
READ MORESediment management for sustainable hydropower development in Nepal
25 Jul 2019Hydropower generation is a viable base upon which economies could flourish in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, but excessive sediment loads in rivers and reservoir sedimentation pose a major challenge in operationalizing and maintaining sustainable hydropower plants. “There is no doubt that sedimentation has to be the main agenda for sustainable development in the hydropower sector,” concurs Sailesh Chitrakar, Senior Researcher at Kathmandu University’s Turbine Testing Lab. “Sedimentation impacts production and shuts down turbines, resulting in higher costs through frequent maintenance and repair costs”.
READ MOREA more efficient brick sector through collaboration and mitigation actions
25 Jul 2019
ICIMOD concluded two key regional meetings in Bangkok aimed at planning collective actions for cleaner and more sustainable brick production in South Asia. Brick entrepreneurs from the region came together for the third Federation of South Asian Brick Kilns Association (FABKA) meeting on 18 and 19 June 2019 to strengthen the association, which was formed in February 2018, and outline its regional approach towards improving the brick sector.
READ MOREE-Paath and E-Paathshala classes for brick workers’ children at Dhading school
25 Jul 2019
Brick workers, both women and men, face numerous vulnerabilities without any form of social protection. The seasonal migration that this work entails has resulted in the exclusion of generations of workers’ children from formal schooling systems – trapped in a vicious circle of relocation and subsistence livelihoods. Yet, investments in the living and working conditions of women and men brick workers can enable mutual benefits for all involved in this sector.
READ MOREReassessing Tsho Rolpa glacial lake
24 Jul 2019
Tsho Rolpa is a large, potentially dangerous glacial lake in Nepal that has been the subject of extensive research and monitoring for decades, with the Government of Nepal even placing it on its priority list in 1997. By 2000, mitigation activities had successfully reduced the lake’s level by 3 m, but the threat of an outburst still looms. The lake has been consistently expanding over the last 60 years and now encompasses an area of 1.6 km2, which roughly translates to around 148 standard-sized football fields. Studies have documented a 3.3% increase in the lake’s area from 2010 to 2015. An outburst flood would be catastrophic for downstream communities.
READ MORECode of conduct being formalized for gender and social inclusion in the brick sector
22 Jul 2019
A national consultation workshop on a social Code of Conduct (CoC) for Nepal’s brick sector was held in Kathmandu on 28–29 June 2019. Participants from across the country including the president – Mahendra Bahadur Chitrakar – and programme steering committee members of the Federation of Nepal Brick Industries (FNBI) gathered to discuss and develop a way forward on the draft CoC. Representatives from 24 district brick associations, which included 19 district presidents and five province-level focal coordinators, also attended the workshop.
READ MOREFourth regional hands-on training on community-based flood early warning systems
22 Jul 2019
Floods and flash floods in the Hindu Kush Himalaya cause considerable loss of lives and property, particularly during the monsoon. To address such flood risks and enhance the resilience of vulnerable communities, ICIMOD and its partner organizations have initiated community-based flood early warning systems (CBFEWS). A CBFEWS is an integrated community-managed system of tools and plans that detects and responds to flood emergencies. ICIMOD has developed a people-centric CBFEWS that emphasizes four essential elements of early warning systems: risk knowledge and scoping, community-based monitoring and early warning, dissemination and communication, and response capability and resilience.
READ MORECombining top–down and bottom–up: Designing a watershed management plan for Dhankuta Municipality
18 Jul 2019
Dhankuta Municipality has adopted a proactive, solution-oriented approach to water governance, with particular focus on sustainable use of resources and improvement of livelihoods. The municipality had been addressing its annual water scarcity on ad hoc basis. The local government and the Watershed Management Office (WMO) are in the midst of preparing a watershed management plan that will improve the overall health of the watershed and year-round distribution of improved quality and quantity of drinking water without compromising irrigation demands. ICIMOD has been involved in this process from an early stage, providing technical support in the formulation of this plan following a request from local government and community members. In February 2019, a multidisciplinary team from ICIMOD conducted a preliminary field survey that both social and biophysical aspects through focus group discussion, key informant survey, and spring mapping.
READ MORESouth–South learnings for future collaboration in air quality and health research in the HKH
16 Jul 2019
A two-day workshop on air pollution has built a platform for stakeholders from the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region to come together and share knowledge on air pollution and health, promoting collaboration and related research. The regional workshop on “Air pollution and health in Nepal and the HKH” – organized from 13 to 14 June 2019 by ICIMOD and the University of Nottingham – helped share existing knowledge, identify research gaps, and facilitate South–South learning from elsewhere in the HKH.
READ MOREBhutan’s first training on Google Earth Engine
12 Jul 2019
The Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform is increasingly finding acceptance across academic, business, non-profit, and government users for scientific analysis and visualization of geospatial datasets in the region. Accordingly, ICIMOD supported the National Center for Hydrology and Meteorology (NCHM), Royal Government of Bhutan, in organizing Bhutan’s first GEE training in June 2019.
READ MOREHindu Kush Himalaya Assessment Discussed at 2019 UN High-Level Political Forum
09 Jul 2019
The Permanent Mission of Nepal to the United Nations in New York and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) organized a side event entitled, ‘Impacts of Climate Change on the Mountains’ on the sidelines of the 2019 High-Level Political Forum at the United Nations Headquarters in New York today.
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