The week-long celebration of the tenth Nepal National Water and Weather Week 2018 (NNWWW-2018) held from 17 to 23 March included various programs such as the “Walk for Water”, मौसम १.0 (National Hydro-Meteorological Exhibition -2018) at Tri Chandra College, 9^th National Groundwater Symposium, Hike to Chisapani, SDG Confab, Symposium on Management of Water Resources and Federal System in Nepal, Workshop on Customization of weather information and climate services to Smallholder farmers and National Symposium on Hydrology and Meteorology, 2018.

The opening of week-long celebration of The Nepal National Water and Weather Week (NNWWW-2018) was held on March 17, 2018 at the Department of Irrigation (DoI), Jawalakhel. The Honourable Minister, Mr. Lal Babu Pandit, Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration inaugurated the opening ceremony. Around 100 participants including Government officials, water experts from the NGOs, INGOs, journalists and students were present in the event.

Before the opening ceremony, a walkathon was held from Maitighar to DoI. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the NNWWW under the chairmanship of Water and Energy Secretariat (WECS), Ministry of Energy and Water Resources. The theme for this year’s World Water Day is “Nature for water” and for World Meteorological Day is “Weather Ready, Climate Smart”.

On the same day, a public awareness campaign called the “Walk for Water” was organized by WaterAid Nepal and The Small Earth Nepal (SEN) at Patan Durbar Square, Lalitpur. The main motive of this campaign was to highlight the struggles faced by rural people who have to walk long distance to fetch water. Over 50 participants from all walks of life (age 10-70 years) were able to grasp the gist of the initiative.

On March 18, 2018 मौसम १.0 (National Hydro-Meteorological exhibition-2018) was organized by Students’ Organization of Meteorology (SOM) marking the 10^th Nepal National Water and Weather Week 2018 (NNWWW-2018)  within Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus premises. The students were facilitated to listen and inherit valuable and effective words by the chief guest Honourable Minister   Barsha  Man  Pun ‘Ananta’, Ministry of  Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation .

To commemorate the third day of NNWWW-2018, a hike was organized by SEN with the “Hike for Nature: Nature for Water”. A total of 11 participants engaged in a one-day hike to Dhaap- a wetland in Chisapani. Upon arrival at the destination, a brief session of knowledge sharing was carried out among the participants.

To mark the fourth day of NNWWW-2018, 9^th National Groundwater Symposium highlighting the Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Groundwater Resources Management in Nepal was held in Radisson Hotel, Lazimpat. This event was organized by Center of Research for Environment, Energy and Water(CREEW), SEN, Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO), Kathmandu Valley Water Supply Management Board and Ground Water Resources Development Board.

The fifth day of the Nepal National Water and Weather Week 2018 (NNWWW-2018) was commemorated by hosting a one-day workshop on the topic “SDG Confab: Synergizing Efforts towards Achieving SDG-6 and SDG-13 in Nepal”. The program was organized by SEN and supported by Water Aid Nepal, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and SNV Nepal at Hotel Himalaya, Kupondole. The program was successful in addressing the burning issues related to SDG-6 and SDG-13. The expertise shared by well-renowned personalities played a pivotal role in raising discussions among the audience, presenters and panellists.

Moreover, the sixth day also the World Water day, 2018 was marked by a Symposium on Management of Water Resources and Federal System in Nepal organized by the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) at Indreni Complex, Newbaneshor, Kathmandu.

The closing ceremony of the week-long celebration of the Nepal National Water and Weather Week (NNWWW-2018) was held on March 23, 2018 at the Hotel Himalaya, Lalitpur. Over 150 participants including Government officials, water experts from various I/NGOs, journalists and students were present in the event.

The Honourable Minister, Mr. Barsha Man Pun “Ananta”, Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation inaugurated the closing ceremony on March 23, 2018. He applauded a week-long celebration under the chairmanship of WECS to make this world-wide celebration of Water Day and Meteorological Day. He stressed that water quality and quantity is a part of civilization but unfortunately, we are not being able to distribute safe drinking water at a household level. Before the closing ceremony there were two technical session were organized.

The first part of the technical session was chaired by Dr. Madan Lall Shrestha. It comprised of an engaging workshop namely “Customization of weather information and climate services to Smallholder farmers”. Mr. Dhiraj Pradhananga, President of SEN along with Mr. Piyush Dahal, Research Co-ordinator from SEN gave a presentation on the topic. Dr. Archana Shrestha, Senior Divisional Meteorologist from Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) also provided insights regarding weather forecast dissemination.

Similarly, the second part of the technical session contained the “National Symposium on Hydrology and Meteorology-2018”. The former sub-session of the Symposium was chaired by Er. Kiran Shankar Yogacharya. There were multiple presentations delivered by participants from Practical Action Nepal, Kathmandu University (KU) and DHM. Similarly, the latter sub-session of the Symposium was chaired by Prof. Suresh Raj Chalise who delivered crucial remarks on the progress and challenges faced in the hydrology and meteorology sectors of Nepal. This session was followed by a brief discussion in Poster Presentation Section where an interactive engagement was noticed among the participants and distinguished guests.

The Nepal National Water and Weather Week (NNWWW) will mark its 10^th anniversary by organizing a weeklong celebration from March 17- 23, 2018. From its inception in 2009, this national event has provided a platform for different organizations to collaborate and address the pressing issues in the sector of water and weather. Like every year, a stakeholders meeting was held on January 26, 2018 at the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat Hall (WECS), Singha Durbar, Kathmandu. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Ramesh Prasad Singh, the Secretary of WECS and facilitated by Mr. Madhav Belbase, the Joint Secretary of WECS. Mr. Belbase highlighted the theme of World Water Day 2018 “Nature for Water” by stating that this year the water issues would be approached by nature based solutions. Furthermore, the designated theme of World Meteorological Day 2018 “Weather Ready Climate Smart” was emphasized by Dr. Archana Shrestha, the Senior Divisional Meteorologist of Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM). She pointed out that a smart line of action for farmers such as weekly weather forecast has been adopted which will result in a fruitful step towards agriculture. As the secretariat of the NNWWW for almost a decade, the Small Earth Nepal (SEN) has been successful in playing a crucial role for the enrichment of this event. Mr. Niranjan Bista, Senior Program Officer from SEN put forward a series of impactful activities among the stakeholders, which the NNWWW has achieved so far.

The primary purpose of the meeting was to provide a forum to propose the interest of different stakeholders working in the spheres of water and weather along with forming an organizing committee for the NNWWW, 2018. Some of the thematic areas recommended by the stakeholders were recovery and resilience, trans-boundary issues on water resources, water quality assessment of different sources of water in the Kathmandu valley, community based early warning system, hydrological extreme weather events, upstream-downstream linkages of river, documentary on hardships faced by mountain people, public involvement and transparency and participation of the educational institutes. The organizing committee was formed under chairmanship of WECS where the Small Earth Nepal will be working as a Secretariat like the previous years.

In addition, the floor was opened to translate the theme of this year’s respective themes in Nepali. The paraphrased theme of World Water Day 2018 Nature for Water was suggested as “पानीको लागि प्रकृति” and similarly, the relevant translation of the theme designated for World Meteorological Day Weather Ready Climate Smart was agreed upon “मौसम प्रति सचेत रहऔं, जलवायु अनुकूलन व्यवहार गरौं”.

Moreover, the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have stepped forward to collaborate with WECS to celebrate the NNWWW-2018. WECS will be conducting a symposium on World Water Day to share its research and findings with the stakeholders in collaboration and cooperation with Department of Soil Conservation and Watershed Management (DSCWM), DHM, and Society of Public Health Engineers in Nepal (SOPHEN), Society of Hydrologists and Meteorologists (SOHAM-Nepal). WECS has also been actively working on flood forecasting and Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) in Bagmati River Basin (BRB). Meanwhile, Dr. Salina Shrestha, representing Centre of Research for Environment, Energy and Water (CREEW), took this opportunity to talk about the 9^th National Groundwater Symposium which will take place within the NNWWW-2018. To add, Water Aid is willing to organize a short interactive program relevant to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 Clean Water and Sanitation which will make a contribution in policy formulation.

Finally, the meeting was concluded by Dr. Singh. He stressed on the statement “water is life” and nature-centric activities resulting in a cleaner and healthy urban centers. In summation, he stated that the exploration of water related issues by nature is a necessity in climate resilience practices.

The Nepal National Water and Weather Week (NNWWW) 2016 was celebrated with a week long program starting from 17th March 2016 to 23rd March 2016. Some of the programs were also organized as pre-week and post-week activities as of the week.
On 17th March, cycle rally and walkathon were separately organized in the morning which was later conversed at Nepal Tourism Board, Brikutimandap and followed by formal inauguration ceremony, which was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Honorable Mr. Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister at Ministry of Energy. Previously, the cycle rally that was started from Jawalakhel to Nepal Tourism Board, coordinated by Cycle City Network, was inaugurated by Honorable Mr. Bishwendra Paswan, Ministry of Population and Environment (MoPE). Similarly, the walkathon from Bhadrakali to Nepal Tourism Board was inaugurated by Mr. Vijay Kumar Mallik, Secretary at MoPE. Various secretaries and country representatives of different organizations offered their presence as guests in the events.
On 18th March and 20th March, documentary show and talk program was organized at Tri Chandra College, Ghantaghar, Kathmandu. Different researchers, teachers and other professionals gave their valuable presentations on meteorology, snow and glaciers, application of GIS tools in river basin management and flood forecasting techniques, drought and thunderstorm. Two documentaries “Drought” and “Himalayan Meltdown” were shown to the students.
On 19th March as a blue for water campaign, a clean-up campaign was carried out at Bagmati River in front of Guheshwori temple and all the way up to Gaurighat. As a major event of NNWWW 2016, 7th National Symposium on Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Management of Groundwater Resources in Nepal was held on 20th March. The Chief Guest of the event was Er. Suresh Prakash Acharya, Secretary at Ministry of Water Supply and Sanitation. The inauguration session included remarks from guests representing different organizations. Following the inauguration session, there were three technical session with presentations by different researchers and professionals under different themes. The theme of Technical session I was “Impacts to Groundwater”, Technical session II was “Groundwater policy, regulation and governance, and the final technical session’s theme was in accordance to the theme of WWD 2016 “Water and Jobs”. There were total of 13 presentations.
Further, on 21st March, there were three programs occurring simultaneously. One was media interaction at Reporters club where Dr. Rishi Ram Sharma from DHM and Dr. Jagat Kumar Bhusal from SOHAM highlighted on different key issues environment like climate hazards and water resources. Another program was interaction with stakeholders on the topic “Women, Water and Jobs” which was led by WaterAid Nepal. The program consisted of women from different arenas, video documentary and panel discussions on how to integrate WASH and gender equality. The last program was an educational visit to wetland which was led by SEN with technical assistance from NTNC. The students from Thames International College and Mega College participated in the visit. Interactive activities were carried out to help students learn about wetlands, its significance and possible threats.
On 23rd March, three set of events were carried out at Hotel Himalaya. The first event was “National Workshop on Water for Livelihood: Science Policy and Practices”. The Guest of Honor was Mr. Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Energy and other dignitaries included reputed personalities from different organizations. All the guests delivered their valuable remarks during the inaugural session. Then, the session was followed by a technical session which was chaired by Er. Mahendra Bahadur Gurung, Vice Chair, NNWWW 2016 and Co-Chaired by Dr. Arun Bhakta Shrestha, Regional Program Manager, ICIMOD. Five papers were presented by professionals from different area and covering on the topic “Water for livelihood”. The second event was a national debate on “World Meteorological day on the theme: Hotter, Drier and Wetter: Face the Future”. The debate was chaired by Dr. Dwarika Nath Dhungel, Former Secretary of Government of Nepal. The panellists included personalities from academics, media, government and NGO. The final event was closing ceremony in which the chief guest was Honorable Mr. Bishwendra Paswan, Minister, MoPE. The chief guest distributed award to the winners of photography and video story competition and certificate of appreciation to the supporters of NNWWW 2016 for their contributions. The program was finally concluded by closing remarks from Mr. Dhana Bahadur Tamang, Chair, NNWWW 2016, Secretary, WECS.