Bangkok--28 Oct--AIT
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
Photo shows AIT Emeritus Professor Ashim Das Gupta (first row, 3rd from left) in a group photo with the workshop participants.