Bangkok--12 Nov--Asian Institute of Technology
Fifty-five participants from six countries participated in the International Symposium on Environmental Flow and Water Resources Management held on 30-31 October 2014 at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT).
Jointly organized by AIT along with Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, the event witnessed participation from Yangon Institute of Technology, Myanmar; Royal University of Bhutan, Bhutan; University of Tokyo, Japan; and Beijing Normal University, China.
Participants were welcomed by Prof. Sivanappan Kumar, Vice President of Academic Affairs, AIT; and Dr. Chihiro Yoshimura, Tokyo Institute of Technology. Prof. Kumar stated that AIT has a history of teaching and research in water and water-related issues. The first academic program offered by AIT was on water, and since then, AIT has been working on issues related to water including agricultural water, coastal water, urban water, extreme events and risk management. Dr. Yoshimura stated that the issue of environmental flow and water resources management is very important for Southeast Asia. He also appreciated AIT’s support in organizing the symposium.
According to Dr. Sangam Shrestha, the symposium included three technical sessions, which was followed by a meeting for the potential cooperation in Asia in the field of environmental flow and water resource management. The three technical sections in the symposium on Hydrology and Flow regime, Environmental Flow, and Climate Change and Hydrology were chaired by Dr. Oliver C. Saavedra V. of Tokyo Institute of Technology, Dr. Sangam Shrestha of AIT, and Prof. Tsuyoshi Nicouchi of Tokyo Institute of Technology respectively. Invited speakers included Prof. Tao Sun of Beijing Normal University who delivered a talk on “Environmental flow assessments in China”; Dr. Chihiro Yoshimura who spoke on “Importance of flow regime and environmental flow in rivers at global scale”; and Prof. Mukand Singh Babel who delivered a talk on “Climate change impacts on water resources and selected water use sectors: Case studies from Asia.”