Dr. Nirmal H. Rajbhandari, Director General, Department of Department of Hydrology and Meteorology of the Government of Nepal, received hydrological and meteorological equipment worth two crore Nepalese Rupees from Dr Andreas Schild, Director General of ICIMOD, under the agreement between the Government of Nepal and ICIMOD in a handover ceremony held at the premises of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) on 11 April 2011. Supported by the German Government through GIZ, the equipment will be used for upgrading and maintaining existing hydrological and meteorological stations, establishing new stations, and training, in the Kailash Sacred Landscape (KSL) area in far western Nepal. The eight new sites identified are in Jumla, Simikot, Hilsa, Rara, Chainpur, Darchula, Patan (Baitadi), and Chameliya.
Welcoming the participants to the handing over ceremony, Dr. Krishna Prasad Oli, the Regional Coordinator of the Kailash Project, highlighted the importance of and need for climate-related data to support effective decision making and policy formulation. The equipment will allow Nepali institutions to levy the same quality of data as in neighbouring India and China. This will help to develop a common and coordinated approach for the development of the region around Mount Kailash, thus supporting the programme facilitated by ICIMOD, which covers an area of 31,000 sq km in the three countries.
“The equipment will help hydrometeorolgical data to be collected more systematically and will strengthen the Department’s capacity in analysing the effects of climate change in the region,” said Dr. Nirmal H. Rajbhandari, while receiving the equipment on behalf of the Government of Nepal.
“The Kailash meteorological stations are being built to collect data which is not only of regional but of global importance. This will help to understand and manage a landscape that is being established both to conserve natural resources and to use its ecosystem services to better adapt to climate change,” remarked HE Ms Verena Gräfin von Röedern, German Ambassador to Nepal on the same occasion.
The ceremony was chaired by Dr. Ganesh Joshi, Secretary, Ministry of Environment.
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