International conference on Mountains in the Changing World

Welcome from the Chairs

Dear friends,

On behalf of the organizing committee, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the international conference on "Mountains in the Changing World" (MoChWo).

Mountains are a part of global biodiversity repository and play a vital role in maintaining global ecosystems and supporting millions of people. Unfortunately, they are the most vulnerable to rapid environmental change.

The MoChWo conference will be held in Kathmandu later this year (1-2 Oct). It aims to provide a forum for international/national scholars, researchers, policy maker and students with opportunity to share their research findings and knowledge related to various aspects of mountains (see focus areas in conference website). We are sure that this conference can be an effective and insightful for the benefit of people depending on mountains.

This would be a great opportunity for your to share your findings in Kathmandu, which is known for its long history, ancient cultures and civilizations, Hindu and Buddhist temples, architecture & sculptures. Kathmandu hosts seven UNESCO world heritage sites and is also the gateway of many high Himalayas in Nepal.

Please visit conference site at www.conference.kias.org.np.

See you in Kathmandu!

With regards,

MoChWo Kathmandu 2016 Secretariat

conference@kias.org.np

Conference Chair

Dr. Basant Giri
Scientist

Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences

Conference Chairs

Basant Giri

[Not defined]

Sessions

AAE. Agriculture and agro-economy
BIODICON. Biodiversity conservation
CLIMCHANG. Climate change
DRA. Disasters, resilience, and adaptation
ENVPOLL. Environmental pollution
FORESMANAGE. Forest management
SUSDEVLIV. Sustainable development and livelihood

Instructions for Authors

This conference is organized by Dr. Basant Giri. Sciforum is not responsible for the content posted on this website.

The conference on Mountains in the Changing World (#MoChWo) will focus on a broad range of topics related to mountain ecosystem and sustainable livelihood. We invite you to submit abstracts for following conference tracks.

Disasters, resilience, and adaptation
Biodiversity conservation
Climate change
Environmental pollution
Forest management
Soil, water and atmospheric research
Agriculture and agro-ecology
Sustainable livelihood
Policy for mountain resources and livelihood

Abstract submission

Abstract submission starts from April. Deadline for submitting abstract is 15 August.

Abstract can be submitted for both oral and poster presentations.

Click here to submit your abstract. If you cannot submit through online submission system, email your abstract to conference@kias.org.np with abstract submission subject line.

Receipt of submissions will be acknowledged via email within 48 hours. All abstracts will be subjected for peer review. Revision of the abstract may be requested for clarity, style and language. Accepted abstracts will be notified to authors and published on conference website.

Submission guidelines

Abstract must be prepared and submitted in English.

1. Presenting author responsibilities

If you are submitting an abstract, we assume you are the presenting author and therefore you are responsible for the followings:

Submitting your own work.
Assuring all co-authors have reviewed and approved the abstract’s content.
Providing complete and accurate contact and affiliation information for all co-authors.
Registering for the conference.
Presenting the abstract at the conference, if accepted.

2. Be ready with followings before submission

a) Title: Title of abstract should be concise, clearly convey the content of abstract. It may contain up to 85 characters, including spaces.

b) Author(s): Name of all authors who have really contributed the work. Indicate the presenting author.

c) Author affiliation: Primary affiliation for each coauthor including address.

c) Abstract body: The abstract should be less than 250 words and should provide a clear description of research objectives, the main results and conclusion.

d) Graphical abstract (optional): We encourage you to submit a graphical abstract.

e) Category: Choose from the key submission tracks listed above. Reviewers will be assigned based on the category you choose.

f) Keywords: At least three keywords are required; up to 5 are allowed. Keywords represent the content of your paper.

3. Reasons for abstract rejection

Subject matter is not appropriate for MoChWo
Information is not new enough
Abstract is duplicative of other submissions
Format does not follow guidelines
Submission is poorly written

List of accepted submissions (1)

Title

Authors

Poster PDF

sciforum-007886

META-ANALYSIS OF FOOD, ENERGY & WATER NEXUS IN THE INDUS, GANGES & BRAHMAPUTRA BASINS

SUSAN MATHEW

Submitted: 01 Jul 2016

Abstract: Show Abstract

SUSAN MATHEW

N/A

Show Abstract

1. Introduction:

The South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) has a strong economy backed by 1.8 billion people’s consumption and investment expenditure pattern. Strict monetary policy measures and relatively stable currencies have helped South Asia to abandon its customary top-of-the-list place as the region with high economic inflation rates. In addition, agriculture and related services will continue to be the key drivers of economic growth, but will produce weak offsets by 2016 if not invested on efficiently (UNESCAP 2013).

The 5 big players in the SAFTA region – Pakistan, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Bangladesh – have now prioritised security of the 3 domains – food, energy and water – for sustainable regional growth. While food production and mainstream agriculture activities remain the largest users of water globally, about 8% of global water withdrawal is used to generate electricity. In addition to this close to 30 percent of total global energy demand also originates from food production and farming activities (Hoff 2011). This has led to a comprehensive policy and practice change with the focus shifting from “F-E-W” to “W-F-E” in the 3 domains of food, energy and water.

India is at the heart of the multi-domain nexus discussions in the SAFTA region, specifically because of its strong linkages with its hugely landlocked neighbours. Geographically India’s agricultural land size and production dwarf its neighbour’s capacity. Being on the lower riparian side of the Ganges, Indus and the Brahmaputra basins at majority of the water entry points, India is also on the delivery side of the water and energy negotiations. India has also been put on a spot due to its farm subsidies currently covered under the Amber box at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations. The Amber Box is the domestic support or subsidy based on production under the agreement on agriculture (AoA) treaty among WTO countries. In this scenario, focussing on alternate policy concepts linking the W-F-E nexus is the need of the hour. As is with the case of many developing countries in the SAFTA region, India’s farmers are protected by the various fuel and power subsidies in India from the surging volatile hydroelectricity and energy costs. But, agriculture remains vulnerable to existing climatic variability and also rapid groundwater extraction, which threatens the entire regional agricultural production.

2. Methodology:

This position paper aims to develop a common theoretical framework to examine alternative policy scenarios in water, food and energy nexus across the 5 countries. The paper borrows heavily from the perception study and field work carried out under the Sustainable Development Investment Portfolio (SDIP) project (CUTS International 2013) across 5 countries in 24 locations in South Asia. The study was carried across the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra basins in the countries of Pakistan, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The primary research tools were questionnaire generated perception survey dataset and qualitative analysis of Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) texts among farmers and other relevant stakeholders. Theoretical models based on the “F-E-W” and “W-F-E” nexus scenarios were formulated from literature review and author’s calculations. Based on these models a set of dependent variable and independent variables were chosen from the survey database to substantiate the nexus equation. A correlation comparison of each of the two nexus scenarios was carried out. This was followed by running a number of test regression models on the database and the model with the most significant coefficient was chosen to illustrate the appropriate nexus. The two models were then juxtaposed with the GDP growth in India to scrutinize the national impact.

3. Primary Results:

The coefficients of the regression models indicate that clearly both the “F-E-W” and “W-F-E” models are efficient because they work in a loop with interdependent variables. For example, the variables supporting the market linkages in agriculture were dependent on water characteristics like the availability of water in the farm throughout the year, the type of source of water, type of irrigation used etc. However, in this dataset, a clear causal relationship could also be seen for the “W-F-E” nexus through multiple models of water and agriculture interaction. For instance, the farmers at the upper riparian side of the 3 basins were better negotiators of irrigation water procurement and hence also active participants of the local trade structures.

The paper will contribute to policy recommendations for the 5 countries with a SAFTA perspective based on the analysis of the “W-F-E” success model, since agricultural input and out trade are a priority for the South Asian countries (Mathew 2015). This would touch on numerous topics like efficiency of farmer managed market structures and sustainable agricultural practices across the Indus, Ganges & Brahmaputra basins.

References:

CUTS International. Sustainable Development Investment Portfolio (SDIP) Phase 1. October 2013. http://www.cuts-citee.org/SDIP/

Hoff, H. Understanding the Nexus: Background paper for Bonn 2011 Conference: The Water, Energy & Food Security Nexus. Stockholm: Stockholm Environment Institute Report, 2011.

Mathew, Susan. "Agricultural Input Trade & Food Security in South Asia." CUTS International. October 2015. http://www.cuts-citee.org/SDIP/pdf/Agricultural_Input_Trade_and_Food_Security_in_South_Asia.pdf

UNESCAP. "Water-Food-Energy Nexus in Asia & the Paciifc Region." 2013. http://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/Water-Food-Nexus%20Report.pdf

Full List

List of Authors (267)

Smrita Acharya

Govind Acharya

Rukmani Adhikari

Bikalpa adhikari

Dr. Basanta Adhikari

Kalika Bahadur Adhikari

Binod Adhikari

Achyut Adhikari

Lal Amagain

Prakash Amatya

Emily Amburgey

Olga Ameixa

Christoff Andermann

Er.Surendra Awasthi

Pushpa B.K.

Salina Bajracharya

Gan Bajracharya

Ajay Ratna Bajracharya

Mohan Balla

Shanta Banstola

Anne Bernhardt

Kiran Bhatta

Binod Bhattarai

Sponsors and Partners

Platinum Sponsors

About This Conference

About International conference on Mountains in the Changing World

This conference is organized by Dr. Basant Giri. Sciforum is not responsible for the content posted on this website.

Mountains are a part of global biodiversity repository and play a vital role in maintaining global ecosystems and supporting millions of people. In the mean time they are the most vulnerable to rapid environmental change.

The international conference on “Mountains in the Changing World” (MoChWo) is organized by the Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences (www.kias.org.np). It aims to provide a forum for international/national scholars, researchers, policy maker and students with opportunity to share their research findings and knowledge related to various aspects of mountains (see focus areas below). We are sure that this conference can be an effective and insightful for the benefit of people depending on mountains.

Focus areas: Disasters, resilience, and adaptation; Biodiversity conservation; Climate change; Environmental pollution; Forest management; Soil, water and atmospheric research; Agriculture and agro-ecology; Sustainable livelihood; Policies for mountain resources and livelihood.

Conference Organizers

Dr. Basant Giri (Convener)

Dr. Bhanu Neupane

Dr. Mahendra Thapa

Ms. Susma Giri

Mr. Rajiv Khadka (Web manager)

AAE. Agriculture and agro-economy

Session Chairs

Mr. Roshan Babu Ojha, Tribhuwan University, IAAS

Mr. Basant Giri

Show all published submissions (1) and accepted abstracts (45)

Submissions not assigned to panels

List of Papers (1) Toggle list

List of Accepted Abstracts (45) Toggle list

BIODICON. Biodiversity conservation

Session Chairs

Dr. Susma Giri

Mr. Roshan Babu Ojha, Tribhuwan University, IAAS

Mr. Basant Giri

Show all accepted abstracts (26) Hide accepted abstracts (26)

List of Accepted Abstracts (26) Toggle list

CLIMCHANG. Climate change

Session Chairs

Mr. Roshan Babu Ojha, Tribhuwan University, IAAS

Dr. Susma Giri

Mr. Basant Giri

Show all accepted abstracts (20) Hide accepted abstracts (20)

List of Accepted Abstracts (20) Toggle list

DRA. Disasters, resilience, and adaptation

Natural disasters are common in many parts of the world. Increasing population has put more stress on mountains resulting in increased vulnerability in risk prone areas. Identification of probable causes and their risk mapping leading to reducing the risk is a prime concern in the mountain areas. Event-centered and action oriented research based on multi-disciplinary approach is one of the approaches suitable to address this problem.

In this session, we welcome submission on different aspects of disasters, resilience, and adaptation aiming to learn from disasters for the risk management and adaptation to changing risk. We are interested in contributions covering some of the following topics: geophysical, atmospheric and hydrological processes, technological, ecological, sociological and economic consequences, preparedness, emergency response, resilience and adaptation, disaster relief and rehabilitation. Particularly, methodological developments for hazard and risk management are within the scope. Abstracts from theoretical and practical aspects are also welcomed.

Session Chairs

Mr. Basant Giri

Ms. Basanta Raj Adhikari

Mr. Basant Giri

Show all accepted abstracts (15) Hide accepted abstracts (15)

Submissions not assigned to panels

List of Accepted Abstracts (15) Toggle list

ENVPOLL. Environmental pollution

Session Chair

Dr. Susma Giri

Show all accepted abstracts (5) Hide accepted abstracts (5)

List of Accepted Abstracts (5) Toggle list

FORESMANAGE. Forest management

Session Chair

Dr. Susma Giri

Show all accepted abstracts (4) Hide accepted abstracts (4)

List of Accepted Abstracts (4) Toggle list

SUSDEVLIV. Sustainable development and livelihood

Session Chairs

Mr. Roshan Babu Ojha, Tribhuwan University, IAAS

Mr. Basant Giri

Dr. Susma Giri

Show all accepted abstracts (10) Hide accepted abstracts (10)

List of Accepted Abstracts (10) Toggle list

* This event is managed by external organizers. Sciforum is not responsible for the content posted on this website.

International conference on Mountains in the Changing World

1–2 Oct 2016, Kathmandu, Nepal

Welcome from the Chairs

Conference Chair

Conference Chairs

Sessions

Instructions for Authors

List of accepted submissions (1)

List of Authors (267)

Sponsors and Partners

Platinum Sponsors

About This Conference

Conference Organizers

AAE. Agriculture and agro-economy

Submissions not assigned to panels

BIODICON. Biodiversity conservation

CLIMCHANG. Climate change

DRA. Disasters, resilience, and adaptation

Submissions not assigned to panels

ENVPOLL. Environmental pollution

FORESMANAGE. Forest management

SUSDEVLIV. Sustainable development and livelihood