Background
World Water Day is celebrated annually on 22 March for taking action on water crisis. This international day was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Earth Summit. The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day. Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater. This year UN-Water has dedicated World Water Day 2017 to the theme Wastewater and the campaign, ‘Why waste water?’ is about reducing and reusing wastewater.
Likewise each year, on 23 March, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the worldwide meteorological community celebrate World Meteorological Day (WMD) around a chosen theme. The theme of the World Meteorological Day for 2017 is “Understanding Clouds”. This day commemorates the entry into force, on that date in 1950, of the WMO Convention creating the organization. Subsequently, in 1951, WMO was designated a specialized agency of the United Nations System.
In 2015, countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Over the next fifteen years, with these new Goals that universally apply to all, countries will mobilize efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind. Strong efforts are needed from the government and private sectors to achieve the goals in Nepal. In this program we are trying to address few goals with the joint effort: Goal#1 (No poverty), 5 (Clean water), 7 (Clean energy) through 13 (Climate actions) and 17 (Partnership). Management of water, climate and overall environment helps to achieve other goals such as 1 and 2 (No poverty and zero hunger), 3 (Good health), 9 (Industries and infrastructures) and 11 (Sustainable cities).
More than 50 organizations including governmental agencies, I/NGOs, private sectors, academia, media houses have been organizing a week long programs since 2008 under an umbrella network of Nepal National Water and Weather Week to commemorate these two very special days. The consortium is chaired by the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS), the government of Nepal. The event is a common platform to share and discuss the various issues related to water and weather, and come up with some policy resolutions. With this context, a week long program from 17 March to 23 March, 2017 under the title “Nepal National Water and Weather Week – 2017 (NNWWW-2017)” has been proposed.
Activities of Nepal National Water and Weather Week 2017
Stakeholders’ Meeting
A broad stakeholders’ meeting was held on February 15 at WECS meeting hall to discuss the possible support, collaboration and proposed activities to celebrate NNWWW 2017. Mr. Madhusudan Adhikari, Secretary, Water and Energy Commission Secretariat chaired the meeting.
Press Meet
The press meet was held on March 15 at WECS Meeting Hall in Singhdurbar. Secretary of WECS, Mr. Madhusudan Adhikari, chaired the meet. He highlighted the need of celebration and shared about the finalized programs of water and weather week activities.
Then the floor was made open for the discussion,questions and queries and suggestions. In the discussion, there was a comprehensive talk about the local and national issues of water.
A press note was released and the soft and hard copies of the release were distributed to the media people
WASH Olympiad
The Small Earth Nepal (SEN) in collaboration with Everest English School, Bhaktapur organized the wash Olympiad on March 16, 2017. The Olympiad was organized to raise awareness among school student in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) issues. Forty multiple choice questions were asked to the participants. Twenty three students have participated in the competition. After the evaluation, Mr. Rupak Neupane secured the first position , Mr. Manish Pyakurel, thesecond position and Mr. Samir the third position. The winner students were provided a gift hamper.
Cycle rally
Cycle rally was organized on 17th March 2017 with the coordination of Cycle City Network Nepal. The rally started from Patan Durbar Square, then cycling through the Shankhamul to Kupondole, the rally ended at Department of Irrigation, Jawalakhel. More than 60 cyclists were participated.
Walkathon
The Walkathon was organized on 17 March simultaneously with cycle rally from Maitighar Mandal, Kathmandu. Mr. Madhusudan Adhikari, Secretary of WECS and Chairperson NNWWW 2017 inaugurated the walkathon. More than 50 participants led by Mr. Adhikari, started the walk from Maitighar through Thapathali and ended at Department of Irrigation, Jawalakhel.
Opening Ceremony
The opening ceremony of Nepal National Water and Weather Week 2017 was held on 17 March 2017 at Department of Irrigation, Meeting Hall. The chief guest for the ceremony was Honorable Minister of Energy Mr. Janardan Sharma. More than two hundred participants attended the program from representatives of different government and non-government organizations, government officials, university students, etc.
On 19 March 2017, SEN, WECS and few students participated in the Bagmati cleanup campaign. The cleaning venue was at Ram Mandir, near Pashupati. The cleanup program started at Ram Mandir and went down all the way to Tilganga.
Students’ visit to Wastewater treatment plant at Guheshwori
NNWWW 2017 organized a visit to Wastewater treatment plant at Guheshwari to the university students both from technical and social science background. They observed the different processes of the wastewater treatment plant and also demonstrated the laboratory testing facilities available at the HPCIDBC.
Eighth National Symposium on Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Management of Groundwater Resources of Nepal
Eighth national symposium on groundwater management of Nepal was organized on 20 March 2017. In the symposium, papers from early career scientists, and university researchers were presented and discussion on the theme for better policy formulation was conducted among groundwater experts and policy makers.
Meteorological Educational Ceremony
Students’ organization of Meteorology at Tri Chandra Campus organized Meteorological educational Ceremony-2017. The program was held at the premises of Tri-Chandra College, at 20th and 21st March, 2017.
The program includes series of lectures by the eminent experts and the documentary shows provided to us by different supporting INGOs like World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and ICIMOD. Students were able to listen and inherit the valuable and really effective words by our chief guests and also the Director General of Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM), Dr. Rishi Ram Sharma.
River Basin Research Sharing Colloquium
A colloquium was organized to share the project activities and research findings carried out in different river basins in Nepal. There were 9 technical papers presented representing the major river basins from Nepal. In the first technical session, papers related to the water resource management in river basin scale and in the second technical session, the current research activities in river basin scale were presented. The papers were from ICIMOD, IWMI, SIAS, SEN, IOE/TU, WWF Nepal.
Thematic Workshop to celebrate World Water Day 2017
A thematic workshop was organized to celebrate world water day 2017, March 22 at Hotel Shankar. Five technical papera were presented and one panel discussion on WASH and SDG was organized during the event.
Weather Forecasting Center visit
On March 22, DHM organized weather forecasting center visit and 15 participants from different sectors visited the center.
Stakeholders Consultation on Hydro-meteorological Services in Nepal
On World Meteorological Day 2017, March 23, DHM/SOHAM Nepal organized Stakeholders Consultation on Hydro- Meteorological Services in Nepal. Four technical papers were presented and discussed.
Closing Ceremony
The closing ceremony of Nepal National Water and Weather Week 2017 was held on 23 March 2017 at Hotel Yellow Pagoda. All the activities, which were organized during the water and weather week, were shared at the ceremony. The organizing committee thanked all the participation and their support. The supporters were acknowledged with Certificate of Appreciation.
