This special day, observed on March 23 every year, commemorates the establishment of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and highlights the significance of meteorological and hydrological services for the social wellbeing and sustainability.

With celebrations since 1961, this year’s World Meteorological Day came up with the theme ‘weather-ready, climate-smart,’ which aims to address concerns caused by weather events and climate change.

“Now more than ever, we need to be weather-ready, climate-smart and water-wise. This is because the ever-growing global population faces a wide range of hazards such as tropical cyclone storm surges, heavy rains, heat waves, droughts and many more,” says WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas.

This day means a lot for the world nations, especially for those like Nepal that are more vulnerable to unfortunate weather events and climate change.  In Nepal, the World Meteorological Day 2018 was celebrated for a week period along with the World Water Day, Nepal National Water and Weather Week (NNWWW) 2018.

National Symposium on Meteorology

Marking the occasion, the Society of Hydrologists and Meteorologists – Nepal (SOHAM-Nepal) organized the third edition of National Symposium on Hydrology and Meteorology 2018 at the Hotel Himalaya, Kupondol, Lalitpur.

The symposium saw a wide range of participation from experts of different areas including research and academia.

These included around 150 participants from different related organizations such as Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM), SOHAM, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), along with collaborators and academia from Small Earth Nepal (SEN), Kathmandu University and Tribhuvan University, among various organizations.

On the occasion, experts from the Ministry of Forest and Environment, UK-based charity called Practical Action and Kathmandu University presented their papers on climate change and effective implementation of early warning systems at times of disasters.

The experts pitched for the use of Cryosphere Monitoring and Digital Mapping methods for the effective flood resilience mechanism.

The symposium was aimed at facilitating ways for the academicians, concerned government agencies and professionals by encouraging research studies and knowledge exchange in the fields of meteorology and hydrology.

It prime focal points were young students, researchers, government and non-government professionals in hydro-meteorology and relevant sectors, policy planners, media, academia, public and all other stakeholders.

The week-long program was held from March 17-23, 2018.

Nepal Holds a Special Place

Nepal holds a special contribution to the research on related fields of meteorology and hydrology.

When it comes to that, the first Nepali name that is heard is Lujendra Ojha, the young Nepali scientist who contributed to NASA’s research on proving water on Mars.

It was at the age of 21 that Ojha spotted water on Mars through his research while his under graduation at the University of Arizona. Besides spotting water on the red planet, Ojha also came up with compelling evidences on current & seasonal water flow on the planet.

Ojha’s research outcomes in fact raised hopes of life existence on Mars.

 Ojha received various honors and awards for his contribution to the modern science, which include ‘Research Excellence Award’ from Arizona’s National Science Foundation in 2015 and is well-known for his research papers and publications.

Nepal holds a greater significance in contributing to the world ecosystem because of its rich natural resources such as water bodies, mountains, lakes and natural habitat. This could be seen in climate change and disaster management measures that the Government of Nepal has taken in the recent past.

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Many inspirational stories have proven this and on the same lines, here comes another interesting one.

Upon his love for Nepal and its people, Stratford-born Hasely Lobb called for a mission to ensure water facilities to a Nepali village called Musey, badly hit by the 2015 earthquake.

Hasely, President of New Plymouth Mountain Bikers Club New Zealand, has created a challenge of climbing 8,848 m, the height of Mt Everest, within November 2017.

According to Hasely, various participants from Wellington, Christchurch, Taranaki and Australia have also joined the challenge that is expected to raise a USD 20,000 fund.

The fund, being raised through the Everyday Hero page online, will go to the Himalayan Trust’s Musey Water Appeal which eventually works for safe water facilities to communities living in the Everest region.

A Love-driven Cause!

                        (File Picture: Hasely Lobb)

Expressing his love for Nepal, Hasely says he has visited the country twice so far and always loved it.

He feels concerned for not being able to help the country at the time of the 2015 earthquake disaster due to lack of proper means, however, has finally stepped ahead in the form of the present challenge.

“I would love to see this challenge become an annual event so that we can keep on raising money,” Hasely adds.

Ride, Run and Jump

The participants can finish the challenge in any way, either by walking, running, climbing, riding or jumping.

According to Hasely, the participants need to climb an average of 295 m per day to finish the challenge.

“One lady has already finished it, she did it in around 12 days. I am trying to do something different every day as much as I possibly can,” he adds.

Hasely mission for the ‘8848m For Nepal challenge’ includes walking the Mangorei Track to the Pouakai Hut, Maude Track to Mangakotukutuku Falls, climbing Paritutu Rock and running up and down the Liardet Street steps 66 times.

Musey, a Small Remote Village

Musey, Nepal is a small village with just 287 people and is reachable after a 40-minute trek from Lukla, the gateway to the Everest region.

The 2015 earthquake has affected Musey very badly, destroying many homes and the village’s water tank.

Since then, the community has been working relentlessly to rebuild homes. Replacing the water tank tops the priority list as the village depends mostly on agriculture for their livelihood and income generation.

Success of the Lukla Drinking Water Project (LDWP), a joint mission of the Himalayan Trust, Action for Nepal and the community of Lukla finished in 2014, forms a strong basis for the latest initiative. The Project is currently serving 200 homes and businesses including many tourist lodges.

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The UNDP Nepal Country Director Renaud Meyer and HCI Founder Laurence Brahm signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in this regard at an event held at Patan Museum on November 14, 2017.

The agreement majorly focuses on crisis and conflict mitigation in the Himalayan region that is the most vulnerable to climate change.

The deal also focuses on development of early warning systems to assist governments and communities at times of any disasters in the country.

This pilot project in Nepal is being considered as a model for the implementation of similar conflict programs towards conflict prevention and mitigation across other countries that are vulnerable to climate change.

“The new facility that we plan to put in place will help the Government and people of Nepal take informed decisions, better prepare for climate-induced and other kind of disasters and respond to crisis more systematically,” noted Renaud Meyer.

Meanwhile, Laurence Brahm, Founder of HCI says, “This initiative has the potential for far-reaching impact beyond the borders of Nepal. It is envisioned that similar programs could be adopted across the developing world in an effort to address conflict at its root cause rather than its effect.”

The next Himalayan Consensus Summit (HCS), scheduled to be held during March 23-25, 2018 is expected to offer another milestone for this partnership, informed UNDP official’s release.

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The UNWFP online system, in association with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), will provide easy-to-read data on food market prices and food security indicators through interactive presentations that indicate levels of food security to the sub-district level.

WFP and ICIMOD have also renewed their agreement with regard to monitoring and analyzing the food security situation in the country through Earth Observation (EO) technologies such as remote sensing, among others.

Through this agreement, the two organizations aim at providing timely updates on country’s agriculture production, early alerts in times of natural calamities and food security for the benefit of communities living across remote parts of the country.

Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Regional Agricultural Forecasting Toolbox (CRAFT) and Forecast-based Finance (FBF) are some of the key projects undertaken by the two organizations since they signed the first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in October 2014.

The results achieved through these programs were jointly published by WFP, the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoAD), Government of Nepal and CCAFS through the Nepal Food Security Monitoring System (NeKSAP).

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) supported the development of the FSIS and the Government of United Kingdom has been supporting NeKSAP.

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This 23^rd global session of COP to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) is bringing together policy makers, scientists, lobbyists and private sector experts from across the world to discuss on global climate change.

The Nepali delegation led by the Nepali Minister for Population and Environment Mithila Chaudhary will be representing the country at the COP23, wherein, they will present Nepal’s detailed status paper on climate change.

“We have prepared the status report including our experience with climate change over the years and what we expect from the international community. The status paper was necessary also for making our participation in the conference effective,” informed Bishwa Nath Oli, Secretary at the Nepali Environment Ministry.

Paris Agreement and Other Key Issues on Agenda

Through its paper, Nepal urges COP23 over implementation of key agreements made under Paris Agreement on Climate Change in April 2017.

Besides stressing on timely implementation of rule book guiding Paris Accord, Nepal also seeks the international community for needed financial and technical support that it deserves as a Least Developed Country (LDC).

Citing damages it has witnessed because of recent floods, among other natural calamities, Nepal also seeks funding support from the global community while also urging COP23 to raise relevant funding and related support for calamity-vulnerable countries.

Paris Accord, adaptation, mitigation measures, means of implementation and cross-cutting agendas like climate and gender are the key issues Nepal has planned to raise at the conference through its status paper.

Through its paper, Nepal seeks developed countries’ contribution of USD 100 billion per year by 2020 as agreed upon during the Paris COP21 session.

“The Paris Committee on Capacity-building has been established to support countries like Nepal. However, not much progress has been made under this heading. The support mechanism for LDCs must be expedited,” reads a statement in Nepal’s paper to be presented at COP23.

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