Himalayan Freshwaters Workshop #4
Assessing the Services and Vulnerability of Freshwater Ecosystems in the Himalayas
IIT Roorkee, India
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Summary of the workshop
About the workshop
The Himalayan Freshwaters series concluded with the fourth and final workshop, held on October 8, 2025, at IIT Roorkee, India, during the prestigious IAHS Scientific Assembly. This concluding event will provide a platform for presenting the full spectrum of research insights generated by the REFRESH collaboration. More importantly, it will serve as a bridge to translate science into action by inviting experts and stakeholders to collectively consider the pathways for scaling results and embedding them into practice. The objectives of the final workshop were:
Disseminate and discuss major research findings from the REFRESH project.
Explore strategies to enhance the relevance of research outcomes for stakeholders and policymakers.
Foster dialogue to translate scientific knowledge into regional policies and actionable strategies for sustainable water management.
Workshop Highlights
The workshop began with Prof. Ashutosh Sharma presenting the REFRESH project’s objectives, key outcomes, and its focus on linking climate change impacts with freshwater ecosystem services and policy relevance in the Himalayas. Scientific inputs from Dr. Vishal Singh, Prof. Vivek Gupta, and Prof. Priyank J. Sharma highlighted changes in the Himalayan cryosphere, regional climate trends, and the growing occurrence of extreme events, emphasizing spatial variability, uncertainty, and escalating climate risks across the region.
Further, Prof. Ashutosh Sharma discuused about mapping ecosystem services and assessing climate change impacts on key freshwater services, underscoring the importance of integrated ecological and socio-economic assessment frameworks. Prof. Shivam Gupta shared insights from field surveys, reinforcing the need for ground-based evidence and local knowledge to validate and strengthen model-driven findings.
The group discussion, moderated by Prof. Sumit Sen, centered on improving the reliability of project results by addressing methodological uncertainties and clearly communicating limitations of climate projections. Participants also discussed challenges in scaling the project approach to larger Himalayan river systems, identified gaps in existing policies on freshwater ecosystem services, and emphasized stronger coordination, stakeholder engagement, and co-production of knowledge to enhance policy uptake and on-ground implementation.
Convener:
Prof Ashutosh Sharma
PI, REFRESH Project
Department of Hydrology,
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
For more information, check out the brochure below -
Workshop_4_Brochure 2.pdfPage updated
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