Sixty participants drawn from among scientists, students, international
organizations and the government participated in the two-day expert
workshop on “Managing Water Resources under Climate Uncertainty:
Challenges and Opportunities” jointly organized by the Asian Institute
of Technology (AIT) on 17-18 October 2013.
Delivering the welcome remarks, AIT Emeritus Professor Ashim Das Gupta
stressed the importance of water, health and food and the societal
challenges accompanying them. He highlighted the role played by AIT in
these fields.
The workshop, which was jointly organized with the Southeast Asia –
European Union Network (SEA-EU-NET), discussed issues related to
climate change and its impact on the water sector, uncertainties
associated with climate prediction and impact assessment, water
management under climate variability and uncertainty, and adapting
climate change in the water sector.
Dr. Anil Kumar Anal, Principal Investigator of the project (SEA-EU-NET
II), stated that the expert workshop is an example of ASEAN-EU
cooperation in science, technology and innovation. Four important
elements of the project include creation of a scientific expert panel,
state of play reports, workshops and joint funding schemes. Dr. Anil
added that a “Science and Technology Innovation Week” would be
organized at Bangkok from 20-23 January 2014.
SEA-EU-NET II follows its predecessor project: SEA-EU-NET, which was
aimed at facilitating the bi-regional EU-ASEAN Science, and Technology
Dialogue.
Workshop participants included delegates from five ASEAN countries
Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines, along with
scientists from Italy, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Experts who chaired the four sessions included Dr. Michael van der
Valk of the Netherlands National Committee International Hydrological
Programme (IHP)- Hydrological Water Research Programme (HWRP); Dr.
Sangam Shrestha of Water Engineering and Management (WEM) program at
AIT; Dr. Louis Lebel of Chiang Mai University, Thailand; Dr. Anil Kumar
Anal of AIT; Dr. Chayanis Krittasudthacheewa, Deputy Director,
Stockholm Environment Institute, Asia; Dr. Carl Middleton of
Chulalongkorn University, Thailand; Dr. Ivan Portoghese of National
Research Council of Italy; and Dr. Abdul P Salam of the Energy Program
at AIT.
The panel discussion, which marked the conclusion of the workshop, saw
participation of Dr. Michael van der Valk; Prof. Tan Phan-Van of
Vietnam National University, Vietnam; Dr. Ivan Portoghese; Ms. Dolores
M Hipolito of Flood Control and Sabo Engineering Center, the
Philippines; Mr. Julian Doczi of Overseas Development Institute, UK;
and Dr. Banashri Sinha of Institute of Global Environment Strategies.
The panel discussion was chaired by Prof. Mukand S Babel of AIT.
Opening the workshop, Dr. Sangam Shrestha stated that the expert
workshop was one of the activities under SEA-EU-NET project, which is
funded by the European Union. AIT is leading a component of ‘Water
Management’ with an objective to create network of different
stakeholders to strengthen research capabilities; create a platform for
better management of water resources; and to respond specifically
towards requirements of different stakeholders.
Dr. Abdul P. Salam thanked all the speakers, participants and sponsors
for making the event successful and expressed the hope that this
workshop would contribute towards strengthening future collaboration
with AIT.
More details about SEA-EU NET are available at this link: http://www.sea-eu.net
