Sharing Workshop held in Kathmandu, Nepal

To share collaborative research activities in Kathmandu Valley and their results/data with local stakeholders and to collect their feedbacks for building up future research and management interventions, International Research Centre for River Basin Environment - University of Yamanashi (ICRE-UY) organized a sharing workshop titled "University of Yamanashi's half decade collaborative research on Kathmandu Valley's groundwater" on 26 November 2012 at 'Indreni Complex' in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. The event was organized in collaboration with Center of Research for Environment Energy and Water (CREEW), an OPaC (Overseas Partnership Center) of ICRE. Nearly 40 (including organizers) researchers, experts, scholars, consultants and policy makers from 20 organizations/institutes including the government agencies, water service providers, universities, and non-government organizations participated in the symposium.

The workshop started at 2:30PM lasted for nearly 3.5 hours. During registration, 'Kathmandu Valley Groundwater Outlook', an edited book that includes most of the results of ICRE-UY's collaborative research in the Kathmandu Valley, was distributed to all the participants. The program was started with an opening and welcome address of Dr. Rabin Malla, a UY alumnus and Executive Director of CREEW. Dr. Malla highlighted objectives of the workshop and welcomed participants in the workshop. It was followed by self-introduction of the participants and presentations from Prof. Futaba Kazama and Dr. Vishnu Prasad Pandey from ICRE-UY. Presentation titles of Prof. Kazama and Dr. Pandey were "Collective efforts for groundwater research in Kathmandu Valley: Lessons learnt and ways forward" and "ICRE-UY's research activities, results and dissemination in Nepal", respectively. Integrated discussion session after the presentation was moderated by Dr. K.N. Dulal, a UY alumnus and Vice-President of CREEW. Most of the participants engaged actively during the discussion, with either queries or comments or suggestions to move ahead. ICRE-UY's research efforts and contributions were well received by the participants. The symposium was concluded with a remark from Prof. Kazama followed by refreshment.