Ripple Effects:
Nepal

Full Circle: Cape Town to Kathmandu

But one, Dr Janak Lal Karmacharya, returned to Kathmandu and

Dr Janak Karmacharya

expanded a simple de-briefing into a ‘Forum’ and workshop in its own right, using the example of the WCD to ignite a national dialogue for Nepal.

He intended to disseminate information on the Commission’s guideline process, and to encourage Nepalese stakeholders to offer their own views on the major questions addressed at the WCD meeting.

But it grew from there.

Dr Karmacharya wears two hats. He represents the Nepalese NGO Jalsrot Vikas Sanstha (JVS) – Association for Water Resources Development and the Nepalese Electricity Authority. He invited some fifty participants, including policy makers, politicians, bureaucrats, NGOs, specialists and consultants working in the water resources area to the full one-day workshop.

But the stakes are high. Nepal is a water rich country with its 6000 rivers and its economy depends upon how this vast resource is used. Hydropower potential, for example, is assessed at 83,000 MW. The interest and sensitivity of Nepal towards the proposed WCD guidelines naturally calls for this country’s active participation in their formulation.

The meeting on 6 June was co-ordinated along the same lines as the Second WCD Forum, the context

The Nepal Workshop

of which Karmacharya first presented in detail. Next came by parallel group discussions on the WCD’s five Thematic Review themes: issues related to society, the environment, economics and finance, institutions, in addition to options assessment.

Dr Karmacharya compiled an eighteen page questionnaire derived from these Thematic Review papers, and covering the main WCD case studies. He distributed these to workshop participants well in advance to encourage a discussion that would be both effective and focused. After three and a half-hours of deliberation by five separate groups on the day of the meeting, the groups drafted conclusions and recommendations related to the reviews and submitted these to the plenary session. These summarised the outcome of the workshop and were, in turn, forwarded to the World Commission on Dams back in Cape Town.

"We sincerely hope that the WCD finds the suggestions interesting and the recommendation, although coming rather late to your attention, will be given due consideration in the guideline formulation so that water resource development in Nepal could be done in the most practical, rational and equitable way", said Dr Karmacharya.

"The success or failure of the WCD will depend upon the extent to which it can come up with universally accepted guidelines, thus enabling them to be implemented on a global scale."