Delivering the keynote address, Prof. Mukand S Babel of Water
Engineering and Management (WEM) field of study of AIT’s School of
Engineering and Technology (SET) stated the issue of groundwater
abstraction can be described as the ‘tragedy of the commons.’ He
mentioned that India, China, United States, Pakistan and Iran are the
top five groundwater using countries. Highlighting the challenges
related to groundwater, Prof. Babel remarked that one of the ways
forward is to consider the concept of “sustainable yield” rather than
“safe yield.”
The workshop on “Enhancing the groundwater management capacity in
Asian cities through the development and application of groundwater
sustainability index in the context of climate change,” witnessed
participation from eight countries including Thailand, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Lao, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Nepal.
Welcoming the participants Prof. Sivanappan Kumar, Vice President for
Academic Affairs stated that AIT is dedicated to Sustainable
Development issues, and its two academic programs of Water Engineering
and Management (WEM) and Urban Environmental Management (UEM) are
closely linked with the topics under discussion at the workshop. AIT is
engaged in teaching, research and training of water related issues,
Prof. Kumar said, as he appreciated the participation of AIT students
in the workshop.
Dr. Akio Takemoto, Director, Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change
Research (APN), provided an overview of the activities of APN. Dr.
Jariya Boonjawaat, Scientific Planning Group, APN (Thailand) also
informed the participants about the activities of APN. Established in
1996 as a result of the 1990 White House Conference on Science and
Economics Research Related to Global Change, APN is a network of 22
member country governments that promote global change research in the
region.
Dr. Sangam Shrestha of WEM stated that the workshop seeks to enhance
understanding among policy makers on Groundwater Sustainability Index
and Driver, Pressure, State, Impact, Response (DPSIR) framework as the
analytical framework for reaching the goal of achieving good
groundwater status.
The regional workshop is an activity planned under the project
supported by APN and jointly implemented by AIT, Thailand; Institute
for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Japan; and International
Research Center for River Basin Environment (ICRE), University of
Yamanashi, Japan.
The workshop report on APN website is available at this
link:
http://www.apn-gcr.org/2014/01/21/towards-sustainable-groundwater-management-in-asian-countries/
