Himalayan Freshwaters Workshop #2
Assessing the Services and Vulnerability of Freshwater Ecosystems in the Himalayas
ICIMOD, Kathmandu, Nepal
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Summary of the workshop
A one-day Himalayan Freshwaters Workshop was held on May 21, 2024, at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, as part of an annual workshop series under the REFRESH project. The first workshop was organised in India in 2023, and the third is planned to be held in Bhutan in 2025. The central theme focused on assessing the services and vulnerability of freshwater ecosystems in the Himalayas. The workshop was organised by Nepal Engineering College in collaboration with IIT Roorkee under the project “Regional Cooperation for Freshwater Ecosystem Services in the Himalayas (REFRESH): Understanding the Influences of Monsoon Variability and Compound Extremes.” The following objectives were set for the workshop:
To discuss and understand the status, trends, threats, vulnerability, and policies pertaining to the freshwater ecosystem and its services in the central Himalayas.
To disseminate the research outputs of the REFRESH project to the concerned stakeholders in Nepal.
Prof. Dr. Vishnu Prasad Pandey delivered the keynote address, highlighting the increasing stress on freshwater systems due to climate change, reduced availability, growing uncertainties, and implications for design floods. The technical session was chaired by Dr. Vishal Singh from the National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee. Dr. Ashutosh Sharma, Principal Investigator of the REFRESH project, briefed participants on project objectives and activities, while four doctoral scholars from IIT Roorkee, IIT Mandi, and IIT Indore presented updates on hydrological modeling, ecosystem services assessment, and climate extremes research. The panel discussion session, chaired by Prof. Sumit Sen, featured Dr. Santosh Kaini, Dr. Neera Shrestha Pradhan, and Dr. Narayan Prasad Koju, who provided policy, disaster risk, and biodiversity perspectives on freshwater ecosystem sustainability in a changing climate.
Discussions and Highlights
The workshop underscored increasing climate-induced stress on Himalayan freshwater systems, including reduced snow cover, glacier retreat, altered monsoon variability, and implications for infrastructure design and flood estimation.
REFRESH project outputs were disseminated, including mapping and ranking of ecosystem services, quantification of water yield and flood retention, and hydrological modeling across the Beas, Teesta, Marshyangdi, and Punatsangchhu basi
Advanced analyses of univariate and bivariate hydroclimatic extremes highlighted rising extreme rainfall events, compound risks, and decadal shifts, strengthening the scientific basis for climate risk assessment.
Panel discussions connected research to governance, emphasizing irrigation challenges in mountainous Nepal, policy translation gaps, and the adoption of the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) approach.
Water-induced disasters such as floods, landslides, and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) were identified as escalating multi-hazard threats requiring interdisciplinary collaboration and improved early warning systems.
Ecological sustainability concerns were raised, including habitat fragmentation, hydropower expansion, land-use change, and increasing human–wildlife conflicts in the Himalayan region.
Future directions include strengthening interdisciplinary research, enhancing long-term glacier and extreme event monitoring, integrating local knowledge into policy frameworks, improving transboundary data sharing, and expanding regional cooperation among Himalayan countries to ensure sustainable freshwater ecosystem management.
Convener:
Mr. Pratik Singh Thakuri
Assistant Professor
Nepal Engineering College
Center for Postgraduate Studies (necCPS)
Email: pratikst@nec.edu.np
For more information, check out the brochure below -
Himalayan_Freshwaters_Workshop_Series_II_Brochure[1].pdf
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