DFID CRISSA Regional Consultation : Towards Greater Coordination
among Climate Researchers and Policy Makers in South Asia

India Habitat Center, Tamarind Hall, India, New Delhi, April 7th – 8th, 2016

Agenda

APRIL7th, DAY 1



APRIL 7th, DAY 1

Theme: Lessons from the CRISSA Programme


Introduction/ Welcome

Ms. Jean-Marion Aitken,
Head, South Asia Research Hub (SARH), DFID

Mr. Anirban Ganguly,
Research Specialist, South Asia Research Hub (SARH), DFID

Operational Research to Support Mainstreaming of Integrated Flood Management Under Climate Change

PRESENTER - Dr. Marcel Marchand,
Specialist (ICZM, FRM), Deltares

PANELISTS - Mr. Joginder Singh,
Advisor –Technical, National Water Mission, Government of India

Mr. Muralidhar Panda,
Deputy Director, FF&FRM Cell, Government of Odisha

Dr. Sandhya Rao,
Executive Director, INRM Consultants Pvt. Ltd.

Adaptation to Climate Change in Indus Basin

PRESENTER - Mr. Fawad Khan,
Senior Economist, Institute for Social and Environmental Transition (ISET)- Pakistan

PANELISTS - Dr. Pramod Aggarwal,
Regional Program Director, International Water Management Institute (IWMI)- India

Groundwater Resilience to Climate Change and Abstraction in the Indo-Gangetic Basin

PRESENTER - Prof. Alan MacDonald,
Principal, Hydrogeologist, British Geological Survey

PANELISTS - Mr. C P Kumar,
Scientist 'G', National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee

Dr. Anwar Zahid,
Deputy Director- Ground Water Hydrology, Bangladesh Water Development Board

Glacier Monitoring in the Himalayas using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

PRESENTER - Dr. W W Immerzeel,
Assistant Professor, Utrecht University

PANELISTS - Dr. Shresth Tayal,
Fellow, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Dr. AL Ramanathan,
Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)

Calibrating Above and Below Snow Line Precipitation as Inputs to Mountain Hydrology Models

PRESENTER - Dr. W W Immerzeel,
Assistant Professor, Utrecht University

PANELISTS - Dr. Arun Bhakta Shrestha,
Regional Programme Manager, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Nepal

Prof. A K Gosain,
Dept. of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi

Strengthening Responses to Climate Variability in South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan)

PRESENTER - Ms. Shreya Mitra,
Senior Programme Officer, International Alert

PANELISTS - Dr. Madan Lall Shrestha,
Academician, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology

Dr. Himanshu Pathak,
Professor & Principal Scientist, National Innovation in Climate Resilient Agriculture

Action Research on Communty-Based Adaptation in Bangladesh

PRESENTER - Mr. Sarder Shafiqul Alam,
Senior Research, Coordinator, International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)

PANELISTS - Prof. K C Malhotra,
Former Professor of Anthropology, Indian Statistical Institute

Ms. Zeenat Niazi,
Vice President, Development Alternatives

Mr. Yogesh Gokhale,
Adjunct Faculty, Fellow, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Scoping Green Growth Challenges in South Asia

PRESENTER - Dr Cristina Rumbaitis Del Rio,
Regional Programme Manager, Oxford Policy Management

PANELISTS - Mr. Siddarthan Balasubramania,
Country Head, Global Green Growth Institute

Dr. Vikram Dayal,
Associate Professor, Institute of Economic Growth

Closing Comments

DFID/Vertiver


APRIL 8th, DAY 2

Theme: Evidence based Policy Making for Climate Action


Screening of film on Glacier Monitoring by Dr. W W Immerzeel, Assistant Professor, Utrecht University
Climate Studies on Allied Themes;
Exploring Linkages

Integrating peri-urban/urban synergies into urban development planning: Insights from ESPA research

PANELISTS - Dr. Simon Lucas,
Team Leader (Climate), DFID

Dr. Nafees Meah,
Director, Research Councils UK (RCUK)

Ms. Izabella Koziell,
Climate Lead (Asia Regional Team), DFID

Dr. Priyanie Amerasinghe,
Senior Researcher, Acting Head, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Delhi office/Head, Hyderabad office

Evidence-Based Policy Making for Climate Action in South Asia: Policy Perspective

Moderator - Mr. Swapan Mehra,
CEO, Iora Ecological Solutions

PANELISTS - Mr. Aloke Barnwal,
Climate and Environment Adviser, Department for International Development (DFID)

Dr. Abid Suleri,
Executive Director, Sustainable Development Policy Institute Islamabad

Dr. Engr. Jnan Ranjan Sil,
Additional secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Bangladesh

Mr. Madhav Karki,
Executive Director, Centre for Green Economy Development (CGED), Nepal

Evidence-Based Policy Making for Climate Action in South Asia: Donor Perspective

Moderator - Ms. Chhaya Bhanti,
Founder and Creative Director, Vertiver

PANELISTS - Dr. K Murali,
Senior Program Officer, International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

Ms. Vidisha Samarasekara,
Asian Development Bank (ADB)

Mr. Shirish Sinha,
Deputy Director, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

Mr. Vivek Kumar,
Senior Advisor, Norwegian Embassy

Towards Greater Coherence in Climate Research

Moderator - Anirban Ganguly,
Research Specialist, South Asia Research Hub (SARH), DFID

PANELISTS - Dr. Kazi Matin Ahmed,
Professor, Department of Geology, University of Dhaka

Mr.Ali Tauqeer Sheikh,
Regional Director, Asia, Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN)

Mr. Jagat K. Bhusal,
Chairman, Society of Hydrologists and Meteorologists, Govt. of Nepal

Dr. Indrani Phukan,
Deputy Project Director, GIZ Natural Resource Management Programme

Er. Ajit Kumar Samaiyar,
Senior Advisor (Environment & Climate Change), Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA)

Panelists

Ms. Jean-Marion Aitken
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Head, South Asia Research Hub (SARH), DFID

Mr. Anirban Ganguly
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Research Specialist, South Asia Research Hub (SARH), DFID

Dr. Marcel Marchand
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Specialist (ICZM, FRM), Deltares

Mr. Joginder Singh
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Advisor –Technical, Ministry of Water Resources, India

Mr. Muralidhar Panda
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Deputy Director, FF&FRM Cell, Government of Odisha

Ms Jean Marion Aitken is Head of South Asia Research Hub (SARH) at DFID. Prior to that, she has been a Health adviser at DFID itself for twelve years till July 2012.

Mr. Anirban Ganguly is involved in Research at South Asia Research Hub (SARH), DFID.

Marcel Marchand, currently designated as Specialist Flood Risk Management at Deltares, the Netherlands, is a flood risk management expert with over 25 years of experience. He is active as team leader / advisor for projects funded by the World Bank and ADB as well as bilateral cooperation programs on Flood Risk Assessments, Hydro-meteorological System Integration and Disaster Management in Asia. Currently he is living in Hanoi as Project Technical Director for System Integration of Weather Forecasting and Early Warning Systems in Vietnam.

Mr. Joginder Singh is an Adviser (technical) to the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. Prior to this, he has been a director at the Directorate of Procurement and Construction Planning (PCP), Central Water Commission.

Mr. Muralidhar Panda is a deputy director for flood risk management department at government of Odisha. Mr panda holds som 30 years of experience in managing and reporting water related projects with the government and the international agencies like ADB and World Bank. He has also been involved in processing consultancy work for 150 “Pani Panchayats”

Dr. Sandhya Rao
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Executive Director, INRM Consultants Pvt. Ltd.

Mr. Fawad Khan
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Senior Economist, Institute for Social and Environmental Transition (ISET)- Pakistan

Dr. Pramod Aggarwal
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Regional Program Director, International Water Management Institute (IWMI)- India

Prof. Alan MacDonald
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Principal Hydrogeologist, British Geological Survey

Mr. C P Kumar
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Scientist 'G', National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee

Dr Sandhya Rao is currently Executive Director of INRM Consultants, New Delhi, an incubate company established through the Technology Business Incubator Program of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi. She has been working in the area of water resources and natural resource management for more than 25 years, focusing extensively on issues related to climate change. Her areas of expertise include hydrological and hydraulic modelling and climate change impact assessments in the water, agriculture, and health sectors, including vulnerability and risk assessments. She has several internationally and nationally published papers. She holds a doctoral degree in water resources from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Fawad Khan is CEO and founder of Institute for Social and Environmental transition in Pakistan, a non-profit research institute. His research focuses on adaptation effectiveness, economics of adaptation strategies, community based local adaptation planning, and exploring factors contributing to resilience. His areas of expertise are the economics of climate change, and monitoring and evaluation. Fawad previously worked for the World Bank, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and has over 20 years’ experience as a development consultant. He holds an MSc from London School of Economics and Political Science, BSc from Columbia University and BA from Middlebury College.

Prof. Pramod Aggarwal holds a Ph.D. in Life Sciences from the University of Indore, India, another Ph.D. from the Wageningen University, Netherlands, and a M.Sc. in Botany from University of Delhi, India. He currently leads the South Asia Regional Program for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). Aggarwal was the Coordinating Lead Author for the chapter 'Food, Fiber, and Forest Products' of the Fourth Assessment Report (2007) of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change. He was a Review Editor for the IPCC 5th Assessment Report. Before joining CCAFS, he was National Professor at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi and Coordinator of the Indian network on climate change and agriculture. He did his post-doctoral in the mid-eighties at the International Rice Research Institute, Philippines on sustainability of upland rice farming and crop diversification. He returned to work at IRRI again during 1994-96 as SARP Coordinator and helped many scientists in Asia to learn quantitative techniques in agriculture. Aggarwal's research contributions include developing crop growth models for the tropical environments, impact assessment of climatic variability and climate change on crops, characterizing risks of yield loss for developing weather derivatives, adaptation strategies, inventories of greenhouse gases emissions, mitigation options, yield gap analysis, genotype by environment by management interactions, yield forecasting, and yield loss assessment due to pests.

Prof Alan MacDonald is Principal Hydrogeologist at the British Geological Survey and Honorary Professor at the University of Dundee. He has a strong track record in groundwater science, particularly in Africa and South Asia in the context of environmental change and poverty reduction. He has published two books and 70 scientific papers including the first quantitative maps of groundwater for Africa, and the residence times of groundwater in Punjab. Currently Prof MacDonald leads projects in Southern Asia, Africa and Iceland, mostly related to the impact of environmental change on groundwater and the role groundwater plays in improving water security for all.

Mr. C. P. Kumar is a Scientist 'G' in Ground Water Hydrology division at National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee. He is a post-graduate in Hydraulic Engineering from University of Roorkee in 1985. From 1985, he has been working for National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee. His major research areas of interest include assessment of groundwater potential; seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers; umerical modelling of unsaturated flow and groundwater flow; and impact of climate change on groundwater. He is owner and moderating few technical groups on Yahoo! Groups, such as Hydrology Forum, Ground Water Modelling , Hydrological Modelling etc.

Dr. Anwar Zahid
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Deputy Director- Ground Water Hydrology, Bangladesh Water Development Board

Dr. W W Immerzeel
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Assistant Professor, Utrecht University

Dr. Shresth Tayal
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Fellow, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Dr. AL Ramanathan
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Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)

Dr. Arun Bhakta Shrestha
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Regional Programme Manager, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Nepal

Currently working as Deputy Director, Ground Water Hydrology, Bangladesh Water Development Board and also a part-time teacher in the Department of Geology and Department of Disaster Science and Management, University of Dhaka. Groundwater specialist with Doctorate in hydrogeology and environmental geology. Professional and research background in groundwater hydrology, environmental and disaster science and management, water supply and groundwater model. 21 years’ experience in Bangladesh Water Development Board and also involved in national and international activities with government, non-government and international organizations and universities. Worked as Deputy Project Director under a Climate Change Trust Fund project of the Ministry of Environment and Forest. As a research collaborator, currently involved in study projects with University College London, UK, Technical University of Darmstadt and University of Bremen, Germany and University of Delware, USA. Reviewer of many international journals published by Elsevier, Springer and others. Honored as ‘Research Ambassador’ by German Academic Exchange Service.

Dr. W.W. (Walter) Immerzeel has seventeen years’ experience in geo-informatics, water resource management and climate change and is skilled in hydro-meteorological monitoring, the use of remote sensing, simulation models and spatial analysis and he is a leading young scientist in Himalayan hydrology. He holds a PhD degree in physical geography and works as senior scientist at Utrecht University and FutureWater and is responsible for several projects on the interface of climate change, atmospheric dynamics, hydrology and glaciology in the Himalayan region.

Shresth Tayal has obtained his doctoral degree on 'Glacier Hydrological Systems' on Gangotri and Dokriani glacier, Garhwal Himalaya, and has been involved in various hydrological, hydrochemical and meteorological research in glacierised regions, and vulnerability assessment of water resources using hydrological modeling tools at the watershed level. Currently, he is engaged in development of regional runoff model for high altitude catchments of Himalayan Rivers based on real time data series for mass balance, energy balance and hydrological balance of selected glaciated valleys, and quantification of aerosol impacts at the cryospheric regions of Himalaya. With more than 10 years of research experience in Glaciology, he has served Glacier and Climate Change Commission, Government of Sikkim, India as Post Doctoral Fellow and is a member of Scientific Research Council, Indian Mountaineering Foundation. At TERI University, Dr. Tayal is engaged in teaching about the concepts of glacier dynamism and their responses to climate change variables, and their influences on glacier hydrological processes.

AL. Ramanathan is a Professor at School of Environmental Sciences, JNU, New Delhi. He started his research career by focusing on various aspects of river basin geochemistry (water quality & quantity, river discharge, sediment load, sediment characteristics (physico-chemical) etc.). Later, he started his research program on coastal ecosystems namely estuaries, mangroves, coral reefs. Apart from hydrogeochemistry and biogeochemistry, Prof. Ramanathan has been working intensively on Dynamics of Himalayan Glaciers (such as mass balance, energy balance, hydrology and hydrogeochemistry). His work is well recognized throughout the world. He has published more than 150 papers in various peer reviewed National and International journals. Eighteen PhDs and more than 24 M.Phil. have been completed under his supervision and are well placed in India and abroad. He is the Chief Editor of Journal of Climate Change besides being a reviewer for various high impact journals.

Dr Arun Bhakta Shrestha is a Senior Climate Change Specialist and Programme Manager for Regional Programmes – River Basins and Cryosphere and Atmosphere. He has a PhD in Earth Sciences from the University of New Hampshire, USA, and a Master's degree in Hydraulic Engineering from Minsk, former USSR. Before joining ICIMOD, Dr Shrestha worked for the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Nepal. His main areas of expertise include climate change, glaciers and glacial hazards, glacial lake risk mitigation, atmospheric environment, and hydrological modelling. Dr Shrestha has had several publications in peer reviewed international journals, national journals, and magazines. He was involved in the Tsho Rolpa Glacial Lake Outburst Flood Risk Reduction Project and was in the scientific team for the preparation of the First National Communication of Nepal to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Dr Shrestha is on the editorial panel for Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk (Tylor and Francis) and Journal of Hydrology Meteorology (Society of Hydrologists and Meteorologists, Nepal).

Prof. A K Gosain
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Dept. of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi

Ms. Shreya Mitra
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Senior Programme Officer, International Alert

Dr. Madan Lall Shrestha
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Academician, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology

Dr. Himanshu Pathak
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Professor & Principal Scientist, National Innovation in Climate Resilient Agriculture

Mr. Sarder Shafiqul Alam
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Senior Research Coordinator, International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)

Dr. A. K. Gosain, Professor in the Civil Engineering Department, IIT Delhi has made a significant contribution to the NATCOM – the National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). He has also been reviewer for AR4 and AR5 of IPCC. One of the recent assignments of Prof. Gosain include the formulation of the Ganga River Basin Management Plan (GRBMP), of which he was the Team Leader of the Water Resources Management group. He has also been engaged by the Delhi Government to formulate the Drainage Master Plan of NCT of Delhi. He is also part of the expert committees appointed by the National Green Tribunal to suggest solutions to deal with the ever increasing pollution levels in Yamuna. Prof Gosain has served as Head of the Civil Engineering Department and the Computer Services Centre of IIT Delhi. Presently, he is also coordinator of the Centre of Excellence for eWater formulated recently under the MoU with eWater (SOURCE), Australia. He did his B.Sc. Engg, Civil Engineering from PEC Chandigarh, M.Tech. Water Resources Engg. From IIT Delhi and Ph.D. in Water Resources Engg. (Hydrology) from IIT Delhi as well.

Shreya Mitra is a Senior Programme Officer with International Alert’s Environment, Climate Change and Security Programme. Her interests include understanding the links between climate change, conflict and fragility; natural resource governance; urban resilience, conflict-sensitive adaptation, development and humanitarian responses. Shreya is a contributing author to the 2015 technical report, ‘A New Climate for Peace: Taking Action on Climate and Fragility Links’, commissioned by the G7 Foreign Ministries. She previously worked as a Researcher for ODI, where she was responsible for research and analysis on DRR, social protection, MDGs and evidence-based policy and practice. She has worked as a Consultant with Save the Children and Social Development Direct and as a Research Assistant for the London School of Economics and Political Science Cities-Urban Age programme. Shreya holds an MSc. in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BA in Political Science from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai.

Dr. Madan Lall Shrestha, is an academician at the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, Kathmandu and The Small Earth Nepal (SEN) since 2007, prior to this he was the Director General (DG) of Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, GoN. He has worked closely with international bodies such as World Meteorological Organization (WMO), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and Inter governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). As the Director General, Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, GoN, at took the position of the Permanent Representative of Nepal with WMO and focal person for IPCC. At the same time, he worked as the Member of the Governing Body of the SAARC meteorological Research Center (SMRC) located in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Dr. Pathak is the Principal Investigator, Climate Change Challenge Programme at IARI, New Delhi. He has contributed significantly in quantification of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission from soil, evaluation of the effects of management practices and biotic and abiotic factors on GHG emission and development of inventories of methane and nitrous oxide emission from Indian agriculture. His research has helped in rationalizing the estimates of GHG emission from Indian agriculture. He has developed simulation models such as InfoSoil, InfoFert, InfoCrop, TechnoGAS and InfoRCT for predicting the impacts of management and climate on crop yield and optimizing resource use for increasing production and minimizing environmental pollution. Dr. Pathak is a BSc (Ag) from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi; and MSc and PhD in Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. He joined Agricultural Research Service of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) as a Scientist in 1992 and promoted to Senior Scientist in 2001 and Principal Scientist in 2009. He has worked as a visiting scientist in the University of Essex, United Kingdom; International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines; CSIRO Land and Water, Australia and Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Germany. He was the Lead Author, Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report. Currently he is the Coordinator of DARE/ICAR for the climate negotiations in the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Sarder Shafiqul Alam is the ICCCAD climate change expert and senior researcher for the GIBIKA programme and previously worked as the ARCAB field research coordinator. He’s gathered wide ranging experiences of designing and implementation of research projects on NRM, climate change adaptation, review LDCs prepared NAPA documents, poverty alleviation and livelihood promotion, agricultural development, stakeholder analysis and consensus building of local capacity, partnership building, policy and institutional analysis. He has coordinated and supervised more than 25 field based research projects. He also monitored and implemented a number of projects in various fields including adaptation to climate change, water resources, fisheries, forestry, socio-economic, rural and urban environment in Bangladesh. He worked for the DFID, WB, UNDP, IIED, IFC, REB, DoF, SSN, NCA, Oxfam, CARE, Caritas, RDRS, etc. He has wide range of connection among Government departments, NGOs and LGIs k in all ecosystems in Bangladesh as well with academics in home and abroad. He has prepared Training Manuals and Handouts on “Climate Change Adaptation”, “Gender and Climate Change”, “Climate Change and Disaster Risks Reduction”, Research Methods, Planning and Project Management” etc. and facilitated over thirty training workshops for officials of Government departments, representatives of LGIs, INGOs, NGOs, media and local communities.

Prof. K C Malhotra
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Former Professor of Anthropology, Indian Statistical Institute

Ms. Zeenat Niazi
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Vice President, Development Alternatives

Dr. Yogesh Gokhale
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Adjunct Faculty, Fellow, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Dr Cristina Rumbaitis
Del Rio
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Regional Programme Manager, Oxford Policy Management

Mr. Siddarthan Balasubramania
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Country Head, Global Green Growth Institute

Kailash Chandra Malhotra, an anthropologist and human ecologist has taught in Poona university and Indian statistical institute, Kolkata. He has carried out extensive research on anthropological and ecological dimensions of tribes, nomads and village communities of the country. He is a fellow of the Indian National Science academy and Indian Academy of sciences. He was president of the Indian society of human genetics. He has served as a member and / or chairman on various committees of DST, MoEF, planning commission, MoTA etc. He has carried out numerous studies on JFM, sacred groves, climate change etc His current research interests include Annual ritual hunting in Orissa, PBR and biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihood. In 2013 he published the book: Micro- level people 's perception on climate change - A study on coping mechanisms and adaptive strategies with a focus on biodiversity and institutional arrangements in Meghalaya ( kc Malhotra, sk barik and bk Tiwari) and in 2014, Biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihood in Kondhpungar village ( kc Malhotra and singru hontal). In 2015, he helped Orissa development action Forum to develop Climate Action Plan for 110 villages across 11 districts of Orissa.

Zeenat Niazi is the Vice President and Head - Communications Solutions Branch. She has over 26 years’ experience in the field of habitat processes and housing technology involving women construction workers, masons and Women’s Self Help Groups. She has managed, coordinated and built capacities in numerous projects for the design of habitat processes in both social housing and post-disaster situations, including post-tsunami response initiatives in South India. Additional areas of Ms. Niazi’s professional engagement comprise the dissemination of large-scale environmentally friendly housing technologies in rural and urban areas, networking and policy development. An instrumental leader in the development of the first National Rural Housing and Habitat Policy for India, Ms. Niazi has contributed as one of the founding members of the basin – South Asia Network, which worked on the policy effort alongside the Poorest Areas Civil Society Programme Network and the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. At the level of local governance, Ms. Niazi has taken part in the preparation of guidelines for city councilors and decision makers for local agenda programmes in Asian urban centres and partnership implementation programmes. She has likewise provided support to provincial and local governments for sustainable habitat development. Ms. Niazi is a trained moderator and facilitator who holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi and a Master’s in the same discipline from McGill University, Montreal.

Dr. Gokhale holds a Doctoral degree in Botany from Mumbai University. He currently works as Fellow with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). He is the member IUCN Task Force on Cultural and Spiritual values of Protected Areas. Before joining TERI he worked as Consultant withSecretariat of Like-Minded Megadiverse Countries hosted by Ministry of Environment and Forests. He also co-ordinated the India local level case study for Sub-Global Assessment of Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Programme. He has been working on traditional conservation practices such as sacred groves in India for past several years. He has researched for the two documentaries on biodiversity issues (Reviving Faith, Back to the Roots) in past two years in TERI.

Cristina Rumbaitis del Rio is the Regional Programme manager for Action on Climate Today, a programme that seeks to mainstream climate change resilience into development planning and budgeting at the national and sub-national level in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. As programme manager she manages an implementation team of approximately 40 people across the programme locations. Prior to joining ACT, Dr. Rumbaitis del Rio worked at The Rockefeller Foundation in New York from 2007-2015. As a Senior Associate Director, Dr. Rumbaitis del Rio helped develop the Foundation’s initiatives regarding building resilience for poor and vulnerable people who will be affected by climate change, as well as initiatives related to water management, small scale fisheries, and preservation of ecosystems and the services they provide to humankind. Dr. Rumbaitis del Rio was a post-doctoral fellow conducting research on sustainable development at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. She also did policy research for the United Nations Environmental Program, the U.S. Department of State, and other institutions. She was a recipient of the 1996 National Harry S. Truman Scholarship for Public Service and a Mass Media Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement Science. Rumbaitis del Rio received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University. She also has a Doctoral degree in Ecology from the University of Colorado.

Siddarthan Balasubramania is the first India Country Representative of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), a grant making Inter Governmental Organisation (IGO) with its HQ in Seoul. In this role Siddarthan is responsible for the strategic direction, partnership, program management, grant making strategy of GGGI in India and also for the day to day administration and team management. GGGI’s mission is to demonstrate the feasibility of robust economic growth while simultaneously achieving environmental and social objectives such as povertry eradication, social inclusion and environmental sustainability. Prior to GGGI, Siddarthan spent a little over 3 years in Washington DC, USA as Director in World Resources Institute (WRI), leading WRI’s Major Emerging Economies Initiative in energy and climate change in Brazil, India, South Africa, Indonesia and Mexico. Siddarthan has a wealth of experience in the areas of green growth planning and implementation, energy, climate change, international climate policy, natural resources management and broader sustainable development. His work experience also include a combined 12 years in UK’s DFID/UKFCO and Norwegian NORAD. Siddarthan is an Agricultural Engineer by education”

Dr. Vikram Dayal
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Associate Professor, Institute of Economic Growth

Dr. Simon Lucas
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Team Leader (Climate), DFID, India

Dr. Nafees Meah
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Director, Research Councils UK (RCUK)

Ms. Izabella Koziell
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Climate Lead (Asia Regional Team), DFID

Dr. Priyanie Amerasinghe
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Senior Researcher, Acting Head, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Delhi office/Head, Hyderabad office

Vikram Dayal is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi. He has worked on a range of environmental and developmental issues: from Prosopis juliflora and tigers in Ranthambhore National Park to indoor and outdoor air pollution in Goa, India. He was at TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute), where he interacted with members of think-tanks and government officials from different sectors. He is a member of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics. His current interests are in implementing methodological pluralism, dynamic ecological-economic modelling, institutional enquiry and multilevel modelling. He studied economics in India and the USA and did his doctoral degree from the University of Delhi.

Dr Simon Lucas leads work on Climate and Development for the UK Department for International Development’s (DFID) in India. His current role is leading UK work on lower carbon development in India and building resilience to climate change. Before Delhi he worked on the UK's International Climate Fund, and climate negotiations and resilience. He has 25 years’ experience working in development, renewable energy and the environment across East and Southern Africa and most recently climate and growth work in Nepal and Vietnam with DFID. Before DFID, Dr Lucas worked in renewable energy research in the UK focusing on scaling up renewable energy supply and off-grid solutions.

Dr Nafees Meah joined the RCUK India team in October 2012. He was educated as a chemist at the Universities of Manchester, Toronto, London and Cambridge and joined the Chief Scientist’s Group at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1988. There he managed research programmes on food safety, nutrition and environmental contamination of food. Following that, he was a senior policy maker in the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs working on the environmental impact of food production and on climate change and food security. Before joining the RCUK India, he was head of science at the Department of Energy and Climate Change. He was called to the Bar in 2000 and is a member of Inner Temple. In his current role, he is responsible for delivering RCUK’s vision for a stronger and deeper engagement with India on research that has impact.

Ms. Izabella Koziell is a Climate Lead (Asia Regional Team) at DFID. Currently serves as a Senior Climate Change adviser at before which she was a climate and Environment Adviser at the Research and Evidence Division of DFID. She has also worked with the International Institute for Environment and Development.

Priyanie is a Senior Researcher attached to the International Water Management Institute, at its Delhi office, India. Currently, she is also the Head at Hyderabad and Delhi (Acting) offices. She is a public health specialist by training and has over 35 years of teaching and research experience in the broad area of environmental health. She has carried out multidisciplinary research studies on arthropod-borne diseases of human and veterinary importance, community health and nutrition, human health impacts of wastewater agriculture, and policy advocacy and action planning linked to urban/peri-urban agriculture, in a number of countries. More recently, her focus has been on urban and peri-urban ecosystems and their ecosystem services, with special reference to natural resources utilization by underserved communities. She has published widely.

Mr. Swapan Mehra
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CEO Iora Ecological Solutions

Mr. Aloke Barnwal
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Climate and Environment Adviser, Department for International Development (DFID)

Dr. Abid Suleri
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Executive Director Sustainable Development Policy Institute Islamabad

Dr. Engr. Jnan Ranjan Sil
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Additional Secretary Ministry of Environment & Forests, Bangladesh

Dr. Madhav Karki
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Executive Director, Centre for Green Economy Development (CGED), Nepal

Swapan is an environmental finance/ expert with extensive experience in identifying, developing and implementing carbon mitigation projects across Asia. Prior to founding Iora Ecological solutions, Swapan served in top management with several international firms to develop climate change related business opportunities. He led led teams of international carbon trading and was responsible for carrying out transactions totalling 3 Million credits. Swapan has an MBA from Indian Institute of Forestry Management, Bhopal where he now serves as the institute’s key carbon and climate change technology faculty. Swapan has engaged extensively with Government ministries, project developers, international technology providers and financiers to create a convergent platform for implementing climate change solutions across public and private sectors in India. His hands on expertise with the CDM cycle includes coal mine methane, forestry, fuel switch, solar, hydro, biomass and wind projects. He is focused on developing renewable energy and REDD opportunities in SE Asia and India.

Mr. Aloke Barnwal is the Climate and Environment Adviser at Department for International Development (DFID).

Dr. Abid Qaiyum Suleri is Executive Director of Sustainable Development Policy Institute since 2007. He earned his PhD in Food Security from the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), University of Greenwich, United Kingdom. Currently, he is also serving as member of National Economic Advisory Council; member of Advisory Committee of National Planning Commission; and member of the National advisory Committee jointly formed by Government of Pakistan and the USAID for Pakistan Strategic Support Program. Dr. Suleri is invited to give policy advice on various other policy forums and advisory boards at national, regional, and international levels. He has also served as Member of Board of management of Pakistan State Oil (PSO), and chaired PSO Board’s Audit and Finance Committee from 2010-2012. He is an Adjunct Professor of Institute of Business Management Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad and also serves on Board of Studies of various universities. Prior to joining SDPI, he served as Head of Programs, OXFAM GB Pakistan. Dr. Suleri imparts trainings and delivers lectures on different aspects of sustainable development to parliamentarians, academia, government officials, journalists, and development practitioners. He has been published in many national and international journals. He also contributes his policy analysis on sustainable development issues in major national and regional papers and is invited as guest analyst in electronic media on political economy of sustainable development.

Dr. Engr. Jnan Ranjan Sil joined as a Managing Director of Bangladesh Climate Change Trust, Ministry of Environment and Forests. He is an Additional Secretary of Govt. of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh .He was born in Patuakhali District in 1958. He did B.Sc. Engineering in Civil from BUET in1981. Later he earned Masters in Civil Engineering and a PhD in Civil Engineering. He also earned a MBA major in HRM and also a Doctorate degree in Business Administration. He started his civil service career in the year of 1984 as a member of BCS (Roads and Highway) Cadre. Before that he worked 3(three) years in a Consulting Engineering Farm. During this long journey of his career he worked in various capacities of Roads and Highways Department (RHD) for about 22 years. In April 2005 he joined as a Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Public Administration. Here he worked in Bureau of Non-Formal Education and I.R.D (Ministry of Finance) as Deputy Secretary. In 2009 he promoted as Joint Secretary and worked in BEPZA as a Member of Engineering .He also worked about 5(Five) years in BIWTC as a Director of Admin and Technical. He promoted as Additional Secretary on April 2015. He has been serving the country for last 32 years in the different capacities of the government service. He participated in many training programs at home and abroad. For work he has travelled several countries including Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Japan, France & USA. He received Life Fellow IEB (F/3607) and Paul Harris Fellow (PHF) award.

Dr. Madhav Karki is a Natural Resources Management and Climate Change Adaptation Specialist with a geographic focus in South and Southeast Asia. Among his several positions, he is the Executive Director of the Centre for Green Economy Development, Nepal (CGED-Nepal), South Asia Chair of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM); co-chair of the IPBES Regional Assessment of Biodiversity and Eco-system Services in Asia Pacific and global member of the Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) Task Force set by IPBES/UN. Dr. Karki served as the Deputy Director General (DDG) of ICIMOD from 2005 to 2012 and Senior Program Officer in IDRC’ Canada’s Delhi office from 1995 to 2005.

Ms. Chhaya Bhanti
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Founder and Creative Director, Vertiver

Dr. K Murali
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Senior Program Officer, International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

Dr. Vidhisha N Samarasekara
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Senior Climate Change Specialist, Asian Development Bank (ADB)

Mr. Shirish Sinha
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Deputy Director, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

Mr. Vivek Kumar
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Senior Advisor, Norwegian Embassy

Chhaya is a brand and sustainability strategist, passionate about accelerating environmental and social responsibility through business innovation. She worked for fifteen years in New York across several marketing and brand development executive functions, most recently serving as Executive Vice President of Assouline Inc. with clients that included Cole Haan, New York Times, Harry Winston, Chanel, Starwood Hotels, and the Related Group among several others. After pursuing an MBA in Sustainability at the Presidio School of Management, Chhaya transitioned to working in the sustainability field. Her experience includes developing business model and marketing strategy for LumiSolair, a solar/wind hybrid street light startup based in New York, serving as Vice President, development for OneSun Solar, a biomimicry based third- gen PV company founded by Jenine Benyus and Paul Hawken in California, working on a sustainability report for Paradeep Phosphates and conducting Life Cycle Assessment and GRI reporting for Williams Sonoma and Starbucks Corporation respectively. Since 2008, Chhaya has also created environmental advocacy and vocational training workshops through media training for her NGO, SANJHI in Udaipur. She has helped train 60 youth in environmental “storytelling” since 2008. Chhaya is the founder of Vertiver, a creative agency based in New Delhi with strategy and communications expertise with a mission to create positive environmental and social impact.

Murali Kallur is an ecologist specialized in the sustainable use of natural resources and the conservation of biodiversity. He is also an expert on climate change adaptation for communities dependent on forests, oceans, and agriculture. His work at IDRC includes a program on climate change adaptation in Asia, a joint initiative with the UK’s Department for International Development. Before joining IDRC, Murali worked at the United Nations on biodiversity and other environmental issues that affect smallholder agriculture. He has extensive experience with community-based conservation initiatives. Kallur has worked at academic institutions, international and local NGOs, and French government institutions. He has many scientific journal articles to his credit as well as books in English and local Indian languages. Murali has a PhD in ecology from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Dr. Vidhisha Samarasekara is an ecologist by training, with extensive field research and work experience in environment and natural resources management across South and South East Asia, spanning almost 20 years. Since 2004 she has been working with the Asian Development Bank where she is responsible for the design and implementation of environment and natural resources management technical assistance and investment programmes across the Asia region including demonstrated country level experience in: Afghanistan, Cambodia; China; India, Indonesia; Laos; Maldives, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines; Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. From 2014 to date she has been working as a Senior Climate Change Specialist, based in the Nepal ADB Resident Mission. Here she has been primarily responsible for the design and implementation of climate change adaptation, environment and natural resources management programmes with an emphasis on regional and sub-regional partnerships. During her assignments in Delhi and more recently Kathmandu, significant progress has been made in a relatively short period of time in terms of mainstreaming environmental sustainability and climate change adaptation concerns into ADB’s operational programmes.

Dr. Shirish Sinha is the Deputy Director of Cooperation of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in India since May 2014. Shirish has worked over 22 years in development policy making and project implementation in the fields of rural and renewable energy, climate resilient development, and energy/climate policy. He is responsible for SDC’s Global Programme Climate Change in India and specifically leads initiatives on Science-Policy Interface in the Himalayas, Low carbon and climate resilient planning in cities, Clean technology diffusion in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector and Energy access for rural households. Prior to his current post, he was Senior Thematic Advisor – Climate Change with SDC in India, Head – Climate & Energy Programme of WWF India, Principal Consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) India, Principal Researcher (Water – Energy) with International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and Research Associate with TERI. Shirish Sinha holds a Ph D in Public Policy from the University of Twente, the Netherlands and Masters in Rural Management from Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) in India.

Dr Vivek Kumar is a senior advsior with the Royal Norwegian Embassy, New Delhi. He is working with the energy, environment and climate change programme of the Embassy. Prior to that, Dr Kumar has worked with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Development Alternatives and has been following climate change issues, impacts, adaptation, carbon markets as well as international climate negotiations. Dr Kumar holds a doctorate in environmental sciences from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Dr Kumar has studied at Allahabad University.

Dr. Kazi Matin Ahmed
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Professor, Department of Geology, University of Dhaka

Mr. Ali Tauqeer Sheikh
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Regional Director, Asia, Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN)

Mr. Jagat K Bhusal
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Chairman, Society of Hydrologists and Meteorologists, Govt. of Nepal

Dr. Indrani Phukan
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Deputy Project Director, GIZ Natural Resource Management Programme

Er. Ajit Kumar Samaiyar
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Senior Advisor (Environment & Climate Change), Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA)

Dr. Kazi Matin Ahmed is a Professor at the Department of Geology, University of Dhaka and is a leading researcher on groundwater in Bangladesh with focuses on urban groundwater, arsenic, salinity and environmental aspects of groundwater development. Prof. Ahmed completed his BSc (Honours) and MSc degrees in Geology from the Department of Geology, University of Dhaka. He started his career as a Junior Hydrogeologist with the National Water Plan Project of Bangladesh in 1985. He worked in Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission as a Geologist from 1985-1987 before joining Dhaka University as a Lecture of Geology. He went to the UK for his higher studies under Commonwealth Scholarship in 1990 and got PhD in Hydrogeology from University of London in 1994. On his return from the UK, he has been involved in research on various aspects of groundwater in collaboration with National and International Institutions. Major project include the landmark National Hydro geochemical Survey in Bangladesh with the British Geological Survey and Department of Public Health Engineering. Hydro geochemistry and Health Affect of Arsenic and Manganese with Columbia University, USA; and Sustainable Arsenic Mitigation with the Royal Institute of Technology and NGO Forum. His current research includes the Managed Aquifer Recharge in the Coastal Aquifers of Bangladesh with Acacia Water and DPHE; Subsurface Arsenic Removal with Technical University of Delft, Netherlands. So far he has collaborated with universities in the USA, UK, Netherlands and Japan etc. Apart from conducting research, he also worked as advisors/consultants for projects run and funded by national and international agencies such as UNICEF, WB, ADB, DFID, JICA, DANIDA, SIDA, DPHE etc. He was a member of Bangladesh Government’s inter-ministerial committee on use of deep aquifer for arsenic mitigation. He has published more than 150 papers in international journals and presented papers at many conferences at home and abroad.

Ali Tauqeer Sheikh is the founding CEO & National Program Director of Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) Pakistan (www.lead.org.pk). He also heads Climate Leaders Action Network [CLAN] which gives him access to over 2,000 experts in the field. His work involves engagement with multiple stakeholders, from government and private sector, to academia, media, think tanks and civil society from several Asian, African and North American countries. He has served on several boards and is a member of national commissions and committees including the apex environmental body in the country, Pakistan Environment Protection Council (PEPC) chaired by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the Taskforce on Climate Change set up by the Planning Commission of Pakistan, and the Core Group constituted by the Ministry of Climate Change charged to advise the Government of Pakistan on climate negotiations. In his capacity as the Asia Director for CDKN Mr. Sheikh leads efforts to assist developing country governments in Asia to mainstream climate compatible development in their policies and plans, strengthen their capacity to cope with climate induced disasters and extreme events, enhance their readiness to access international climate finance and to meaningfully engage in international climate negotiations for an equitable and ambitious global agreement. Mr. Sheikh is deeply involved in various facets of sustainable development, particularly in poverty-environment nexus, climate vulnerabilities and equitable development. He has served as advisor/consultant to a number of national/international organizations such as Asian Development Bank, European Commission, IDRC, IFAD, JICA, Packard Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, The Asia Foundation, UNDP, UNESCO and the USAID.

Mr. Jagat Kumar Bhusal is a hydrologist by profession. He has 30 years of working experience in the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Government of Nepal. He has provided hydrological inputs for more than 35 different water related projects and has published more than 35 papers in proceedings, magazines and journals. Currently, he is engaged in research related to climate change and water availability focused to irrigation practices, and also as an investigator in an ESPA supported research programme on mountain cosystem services (Mountain-evo–Nepal). Mr Bhusal is the Chairperson of Electricity Tariff Fixation Commission, GoN, and the Society of Hydrologists and Meteorologists-Nepal, Vice Chairperson of IITRAAN Nepal chapter and, a member of International Hydrological Proramme of Nepal National Committee.

Dr. Indrani is working as Deputy Project Director in GIZ, Climate Change Adaptation in North Eastern Region Project New Delhi. An Applied Geologist academically from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, she did her PhD from the University of Delhi and the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, India, in the topic “Geo-Environmental Analyses of a part of West Garo Hills, Meghalaya using Satellite Remote Sensing and GIS”. She has 15 plus years of experience in the Natural resources management and Climate Change Adaptation. Key Expertise in Mainstreaming climate change adaptation into integrated natural resources management and disaster risk reduction; Designing climate change adaptation strategies and vulnerability assessments; Integrated natural resources management for sustainable development; Project conceptualization, management, project appraisals and feasibility studies; Liaising with central and state government partners, NGOs, bilateral and multilateral agencies at various levels; Capacity building & training for watershed development agriculture extension management and climate change adaptation; Information Communication Technology (including Remote Sensing & GIS) applications; Rural renewable energy and energy efficient technologies for rural enterprise development and poverty alleviation; Impact monitoring and evaluation including participatory & technical approaches and Addressing gender issues in the agriculture and climate change sectors.

Er. Ajit Kumar Samaiyar is a Senior Advisor- Ecnvironment and Climate Change in Bihar State Disaster Management Auhority. He is a Retd. Joint Director FMISC, Water Resources Department, Govt. of Bihar has joined BSDMA on 14th Jan, 2015 as Senior Advisor, Environment & Climate Change. As a landmark achievement of his career, he established FMISC in WRD as an effective Flood Management decision support tool and for his this effort, got appreciation from the department and was awarded ‘’Abhiyanta Shree" in 2009.

About CRISSA

DFID’s South Asia Research Hub funded a suite of research studies on key climate challenges between 2010 and 2015 under its Climate Research and Information Services in South Asia (CRISSA) programme. With these studies now completed, a regional stakeholder consultation is being organised on April 7-8, 2016 in New Delhi.

The following studies are being covered by this event:

(All study outputs can be accessed at http://r4d.dfid.gov.uk/Project/60918/)

Purpose

The purpose of the event is to present the key policy relevant messages from these studies to a group of academics and policy-makers drawn from the South Asian region. While each of the research projects have generated technical reports and peer reviewed journal articles accessible to a technical audience, this event will attempt to reach out to decision-makers who are in a position to use these findings for enhancing the evidence base for decisions they need to make.

Output

The expected output from the event would be a short working paper that would synthesize the discussion generated from the view-point of making scientific studies more policy-relevant and enhancing the base of scientific evidence that could feed into policy. The paper would also address the issue of coherence among research funders in terms of complementarities of themes/ approaches and modes of outreach and dissemination.

Structure

The Consultation is being hosted by DFID-SARH in association with its dissemination partner, Vertiver. The format of the event would be interactive with panels comprising both academics and practitioners. On Day 1, lead researchers would make brief presentations on the key research findings and practitioners would be invited to comment on the relevance of these findings. The science-policy interface created this way would serve as a mode of enhanced dialogue among various beneficiaries of publicly funded research. Day 2 will feature several cross-cutting sessions on evidence based policy making. These will include panels for donors and policy makers. A final session will explore issues of coherence in climate research and constraints/ challenges for regional research.

 

 

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